

iii 




(''^-y\^.A^ C^■o-^>^A■K? --v^ /CC 



PROCEEDINGS 



moth Inland iistorical Hocidg, 



18 7 9-80 



J)GiCA;. 




iC'Crvi 



^-^Qrat** 



r-i 



P R O V I I) P: N C E : 

rillXTKD von TlIK SOCrKTY 

1 S 8 . 



PROCEEDINGS 






I 



l") ■ lii IIP C^r 

'M\m\t \ liland tlistorical Socidii, 



1879-80. 



L 16610 



P R V I I) E N C E : 

I'lIIXTKU I'OU TIIK SOCIETY. 

1880. 



p^l 



Conimiitec on PublicaiioH. 



JOHN RUSSELL BAKTLETT, 
J. LEWLS DLALAX, 
EDWIN MARTIN STONE. 



IMUNTKU HV THE I'lIOVlDENX'E PRESS COMl'ANV. 



O F F I (J E P. S 



OF TIIK 



KMIODE ISLAM) inSTOJJKVAL SOCIKTV 

Ei.i-XTKi) Januai!y ISrii, 1880, 



Presidcnl. 
SAMUEL G. ARNOLD,* - . . . . PoirrsMorrr,. 

Vice Presidents. 

ZACHAKIAH ALLEN, ..... p,,,vn>KN.K. 
FRANCIS BRINLEV, - . . . Nkwpokt. ' 

i^ccrct'iry. 
AMOS I'ERRV, PKovn.KxcK. 

Treasurer. 
RICHMOND V. EVERETT, .... l>,:,)vn>KNci.:. 

Lihrnrinn and Cnlmiei Keeper of the Northern Deparlnieid. 
EDWIN M. STONE, ..... 1>k.>v.i.knck. 
* Dc-Lvasod since iiiiiiual iiRctiiiff. 



4 RHODE ISLAKD HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

Commiltee on Koyninalion of New Mtinhers. 

ALBERT V. JENKS, Pijovidexck. 

WILLIAM STAPLES, Puovidknck. 

W. MAXWELL GREENE, - - - . Puovidkxck. 

Committee on Leettires and I^iadinr/ of Papers. 

WILLIAM GAMMELL, PitoviDEXCK. 

AMOS PRRRY, Puovidkxck. 

CHARLES W. PARSONS, . - . . PuovinKXCK. 

Committee on rublicaiions of the Socidy. 

JOHN R. BARTLETT, Puovidkxck. 

J. LEWIS DIMAN, Pkovidkxck. 

EDWIN M. STONE, - - - - - Phovidkxck. 

Committee on Genealogical Researches. 

HENRY E. TURNER, ..--.. Nkwpokt. 

ZACHARIAH ALLEN, ----- Pkovidexce. 

WILLIAM A. MOWRY, Pkoviokxce. 

Committee on Care of Grounds and Duildiny. 
ISAAC H. SOUTH WICK, - - . - I'iiovidence. 

HENRY J, STEERE. Pkovidexck. 

ROYAL C. TAFT, Pkovidkxce. 



HENRY T. BECK WITH, 
WALTER BLODGICT, 
JOHN P. WALKER. 



Audit Committee. 



Pi:o\ll)EXCE. 

Pkoviuexce. 

PitOVIUEXCE. 



Procurators. 



GEORGE C. MASON, - 
WILLIAM J MILLER, - 
ERASTUS RICHARDSON, 
HENRY F. SMITH, 
CHARLES H. FISHER, - 
GEORGE H. OLNEY, 



Newpoht. 

BiMSTOL. 

WOOXSOCKET. 

PaWTL'CKET. 

SCITUATE. 

HOPKIXTOX. 



HOXOEAPvY MEMBERS. 

Elected since January 1st, 1873. 
(For complete list previous to tliis date sec Proceedings for 1872-73.) 



July 1, 1873. *William Culleu Bryant, LL. D., New York City. 

Oct. 7,1873. fHon. John Lothrop Motley, LL. D., London, Eng-. 
.Tan. 20,1874. James Anthony Froiule, F. Ex. Col. Ox., " " 

Nov. 10, 1874. +Hon. Brantz Mayer, Baltimore, Md. 

Oct. 2,1877. Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, Boston, Mass. 

Oct. 1, 1878. Don Jose Maria Latino Coelho, Sec. 

Royal Academy Sciences, Lisbon, Portugal:. 

April 1,187'.). Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Cambridge, Mass.. 

July 1, 1870. Prof. K. Gislason, Sec. Royal Society 

Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen, Deni 

Jan. 13, 1880. Hon. Carl Schurz, Sec. Interior, Washington, D. C^ 



Deceased. 187^. 



t Deceased, 187 



X Deceased,. 1879. 



CORRESPONDING MEMBERS . 

Elected since Apiul 1st. 1873. 
(For complefe list previous (o this dnte .ce I'roa, dings for isrj-r;!.) 



•Tuly 1, 1873. 
Oct. 7, 1873. 



Jan. ?0, 1874. 
April 7, 1874. 
•Tilly 7, 1874. 



Nov. 10, 1874. 
April G, 187u. 



July G, 1875. 

" u 

Oct. 5, 1875. 

'( ii 

Jan. 18, 187G. 



Kev. Thomas T. Stone, 
Col. Albert IF. Iloyt, 
William Chambers, LL. D., 
Prof. J. C. Hoist, 
G. J. Bowles, Esq., 
Frederick Kidder, Esq., 
William J. Uoppin, Esq , 
Hon William Greenongh, 
Jiev. Saninel Osgood, I). D.. 
Col. John Ward, 
Alexander Duncan, Esq., 
Lyman C. Draper, Esq., 
Col. Percy Daniel, 
Charles-H. Ru.ssell, Esq., 
Hon. J. Carson Brevoort, 
Thomas F. Rowland, Esq., 
C. Mason Kinnie, Esq., 
Franklin B. Hough, M. D., 
Edmund B. O'Calligan, LL. D., 
Benjamin Greene Arnold, 
Marcus D. Gilmaii, Esq., Lib. Vi 

Historical Society, 
Silas Bonfils, Esq., 



Bolton, ]\Tass. 
Cincinnati, O. 
Edinburoh, Scotland. 
Christiania, Norway. 
Quebec, Canada. 
Boston, Mass. 
New York City. 
Boston, Mass. 
New York City. 
'* (( (, 

England. 
Madison, Wis. 
Worcester. Mass. 
New York City. 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 
San Francisco, Cal. 
Low vi lie, N. Y. 
New York City. 



Montpelier, Vt. 
Mentone, France. 



COKRE.SrONDINC :\IEM15E1!S. 7 

Jan. 18, l.S7(;. Pliinoas Bates, Jr., Esq., Boston, Mass. 

" " "W. Elliott Woodward, Esq., " " 

Oct. 3, 187(1. Bt. Bev. M. A. DeWolf Howe, Beading, Pa. 

" " Hou. John S. Braytou, Fall Biver, Mass. 

April 3, 1877. Hon. Bicliard A. Wheeler, Stoningtoii, Conn. 

April 24, 1877. Bev. Elmer II. Capen, D. 1)., Sonierville, Mass. 
Jan. 15, 1878. Asa Bird Gardner, LL. 1)., Prof. 

U. S. Military Academy, West Point. 
" " Major-Gen. George W. Cullnni, 

U. S. A., New York City. 
" " Brig-Gen. A. A. Hnmphreys, 

Chief Eug Depart., U. S. A., AVashingtou, I). C. 
Oct. 1, 1S7S. lion. Isaac N. Arnold, Prest. 

Chicago Hist Society, Chicago, 111. 
" " Hiram A. Huse, Esq., Lib. Vt. 

State Library, Montpelier, "Vt. 

April 2, 1878. Gen. Henssein Tevfik, Constantinople. 

" " Hon. John Fitch. New York City, 

" " Edward F. DeLancey, Esq., " " " 

Jan. 14, 1879. Bev. Charies Bogers, LL. D., 

Sec. Boyal Hist. Society, London, Eng. 
" " Col. 'i'hos. Wentworth Iligginsou, Cambridge, Mass. 

" " Hon. Thomas C. Amor^^ Boston, Mass. 

April 1, 1879. Bay Greene Hnling, Fitchbnrg, Mass. 

A. W. Holden, M. D., Gleu Falls, N. Y. 
July 1, 1871). Lt.-Col. Thos. L. Casey, U. S. A., Washington, I). C. 
" " Hou. Edonard Madier de Montjau, 

Prest. Soc. Ethnology Am., Paris, France. 

Jan. 13,1880. Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

'• " Samuel Dnnster, Esq., East Attloboro, Mass. 



^%fi*«^ 



R E 8 1 1) K N T M E U r> E R S 

1880. 
Repouted by the Treasurer. 



ELECTED. ELECT 

1876. Adams, Charles P. 1878. 

1874. Addemaii, Joshua M. 1872. 

1874, Aldrich, Nelsou W. 184G. 
1822. Allen, Zacliariah 1880. 

1875. Ames, William 1870. 

1875. Angell, Albert G. 1875. 
187G. Angell, Edwin G. 1857. 
1836. Anthony, Henry B. 1874. 

1876. Armstrong, Cyrus C. 1876. 

1875. Aplin, Charles 1878. 
1874. Arnold, Olney 1874. 
1844. *Arno.ld, Samuel G. 1878. 

1877. Arnold, Stephen H. 1880. 
1877. Babbitt, Edward S. 1859. 

1872. Barrows, Edwin 1876. 
1831. Bartlett, John R. 1873. 

1876. Barton, Robert 1874. 
1879, Barton, William T. 1874. 
1849. Beckwith, Henry T, 1857. 

1877. Bedlow, Henry 1880. 
1858. Binuey, William 1872. 

1873. Blodget, Walter 1879. 



EU. 

Bogmau, Edward Y. 
Bowen, Holder B. 
Bradley, Charles S. 
Brayton, William D. 
Brinley, Francis 
Brown, John A. 
Bi'own, Welcome O. 
Brownell, Stephen 
Biigbee, James H, 
Bull, Samuel T. 
Burnside, Ambrose E. 
Burrough, Frank M, 
Burrows, Daniel 
Calder, George B. 
Campbell, Horatio N. 
Carpenter, Charles E. 
Carpenter, Francis W. 
Caswell, Edward T. 
C'hambers, Robert B. 
Chandler, William H. 
Channing, William F. 
Chace, Lewis J. 



* Deceased, February 13, 1870. 



"KESIDKN'T MEMBERS. 



ELKCTED. EEECTK 

18(J8. Cliacp, Thomas \V. 1874. 

1873. Claflin, George L. 1878. 

1880. Clarke, E. Webster 1870. 

1878. Clarke, James M. 1878. 

1873. Clarke, Sam AV. 1855. 

1878. Clark, Thomas M. 1875. 

1879. Clarke, William E. 1844. 

1880. Coats, James 1875. 
1877. Codiiiaii, Arthur 1880. 
1879. Colt. LeBaroa 13. 1850. 
1879. Colt, Samuel P. 1878. 
1877. Coiiaiit, Hezekiah 1858. 
1872. Coiigdon, Johns H. 1878. 
1872. Cooke, Joseph J. 1878. 

1874. Cranston, Henry C. 187G. 
1877. Cranston, George K. 1874. 
1879. Cross, William J. 18GG. 
187G. Cushman, Henry I. 1877. 
1874. Day, Daniel E. 1879. 

1871. Dean, Sidney 1872. 
1879. DeWolf, Winthrop 1872. 

1874. Dike, Arba B. 1878. 
18CG. Diman, J. Lewis 1879. 
1877. Doringh, Cliarles H. K. 1878. 
1877. Dorrance, Samuel K. 1874, 
183G. Doirauce, William T. 1878. 
1851. Doyle, Thomas A. 1877. 

1875. Dnnnell, William Wanton 18^0. 

1877. Dnrfee, Charles S. 1871. 
1849. Durfee, Thomas 1873. 
1838. Dyer, Elisha 1873. 
1873 Eames, Benjamin T. 1874. 

1872. E-iton, Amasa Af. 1874. 

1878. Elliott, Albert T. 1874. 
1S7G. I'Jy, James W. C. 1871. 
18G2. Ely. William D. 1880. 
187G. Ely, William 1843. 
1858. Everett, Riehmond P. 18G7. 



Fairbrother, Henry L. 
Farnsworth, Claudius B. 
Fay, Henry H. 
Fisher; Charles H. 
Gammell, Asa Messer 
Gamniell, Robert Ives 
Gammell, William 
Gardner, Henry W. 
Goddanl, Francis W. 
Goddard, William 
Godding. Alvah W. 
Gorham, John 
Gorton, Chailcs 
Greene, Edward A. 
Greene, Henry L. 
Greene, Simon Henry 
Greene, AVilliam 
Greene, W. Maxwell 
Greer, David H. 
Grosvenor, William 
Grosvenor, William Jr. 
Hall, Robert 
Hammond, Benjamin B. 
Harkness, Albert 
Harrington, Henry A. 
Harris, C. Fiske 
Hartshorn, Joseph C. 
Hazard, Rowland G. 
Hazard, Rowland 
Hidden, Henry A. 
Hidden, James C. 
Hill, Thomas J. 
Holbrook, Albert 
Hopkins, William H. 
Hoppln, Frederick S. 
Howard, Albert C. 
Howland, John A. 
Jenks, Albert V. 



10 



RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



ELECTED. 

1879. Jillson, Charles D. 

187-I. Joliusoii, William S. 

1879. Joliiisoii, Elias H. 

1880. Jones, Aiigustin« 
1807. Keoiie, Stephen S. 
1873. Kendall, Henry L. 
187G. Kimball, James M. 
1879. Knight, Edward B. 
187G. Knowles, Edward V. 
18G9. Lester, John Erastus 

1879. Lincoln, John L. 

1880. Lippitt, Christopher 

1878. Lippitt, C. Warren 

1872. Lippitt, Henry 

1879. Loekwood, Amos D. 

1873. Lyman, Daniel W. 
1877. Mason, Charles F. 
1877. Mason, Earl Philip 
1877. Mason, Eugene W. 

1877. Mason, George C. 
1876. Mattcson, Charles 

1878. Mauran, Edward C. 
1878. Manrau, James E. 
1867. Meader, John J. 
1876. Metcalf, Henry B.. Paw 

1875. Miller, Augustus S. 
1873. Miller, William J. 

1876. Moulton, Sullivan 

1873. Mowry, William A. 

1874. Mowry, William G. K. 

1877. Mumford, John P. 
1877. Munroe, Bennett J. 

1880. Munroe, Wilfred H. 
1880. Nichols, Amos G. 
1876. Nickerson, Edward I. 
1874. Nightingale, George C. 
1865. *01dfie]d, John 

* Deceased, January 8, 1880. 



ELECTED. 

1879. Olney, George H. 
1862. Ormsbee, John Spurr 
1878. Owen, Smith 

1870. Pabodie, Benjamin F. 

1874. fPabodie, Benjamin G. 

1874. Paige, Charles F. 
1867. Paine, George T. 
1867. Parkiuirst, Jonathan G. 
1847. Parsons, Charles W. 

1875. Parsons, Henry L. 

1873. Pearce, Edward 

1877. Pearce, Edward D. Jr. 
1849. Peckham, Samuel W. 

1875. Pegram, John C. 
1858. Perry, Amos 

1880. Perry, Marsden J. 

1874. Persons, Benjamin W. 

1873. Philips, Theodore W. 

1878. Porter, Emery H. 
1880. Potter, Charles L. 

1876. Rawson, Henry M. 

1874. Richardson, Erastus 
1877 Richmond, Walter 

• 1878. Rider, Sidney S. 

tucket, 1866. Roger.s, Horatio 

1878. Russell, Levi W. 

1877. Seabury, Frederic N. 
1877. Seagraves, Caleb 

1874. Shaw, James Jr. 

1875. Sherman, William O. 
1874. Shedd, J. Herbert 

1879. Shepley, George H. 

1876. Sherman, Robert 

1877. Slater, Horatio N. Jr. 
1876. Slater, William S. 

Jr. 1875, Smith, Edwin A. 

1873. Smith, Henry F. 

t Deceased, January 25, 1880. 



RESIDENT MEMBERS. 



11 



KI.KCIKD. ELKCT 

18(J1). Southwick. Isaac 11. 1877. 

1H74. Spencer, Gideon L. 1873. 

1870. Spencer, Joel M. 1875. 

1877. Stanhope, Frederick A. 1874. 
1873. Staples, Carlton A. 1874. 
18(!!). Staples, William 1874. 

1878. Starkweather, Joseph IT. 1861. 
18(58. Steere, Henry J. 1878. 
187!). Stiness, John H. 18G8. 
1848, Stone, Edwin M. 1868. 

1873. Swan, Jarvis B. 1874. 
18.->6. Taft, Royal C. 1877. 

1874. Taylor, Charles F. 1876. 
1878. Tilli-nghast, James 1880. 
1871) Tibbitts, William T. 



ED. 

Thayer, Thatcher 
Thurston, Benjamin F. 
Trippe, Samuel G. 
Turner, Henry E. 
Wales, Samuel H. 
Walker, John P. 
Waterman, Rufus 
Watson, Arthur H. 
Weeden, William B. 
AVestcott, Amasa S. 
Whitford, George W. 
Wilson, George F. 
Woods, Mar.sha]l 
Woodward, Royal 



LIFE MEMBERS 



Jan. l(i 


1872. 


Jan. 17 


1872 


Feb. 21 


1872 


April 3 


1872 


April 25 


1872. 


July 11 


1872 


Jan. 29 


1873. 


July 11 


1873 


Jan. 26 


1874 


April 12 


1875 


Jan. 29 


187G 


April 1 1 


1877 


Jan. J 4 


1879 


July 8 


1879. 


Oct. IG 


1879. 


Jan. 7 


1880 


* Decta 


sed. 



George T. Paine, 
Henry T. Beckwitli, 
William Greene, 
Rowland G. Hazard, 
Holder Borden Bowen, 
Aniasa M. Eaton, 
James Y. Smith,* 
Jarvis B. Swan, 
Benjamin G. Pabodie,* 
Albert G. AngcU, 
William Ely, 
Hezekiah Conant, 
Samuel G. Arnold,* 
Amos D. Lockwood, 
lloyal Woodward, 
Charles Gorton, 



Providence. 

Warwick. 

South Kingstown. 

Providence. 

North Providence. 

Providence. 



Pawtuckct. 
Portsmouth. 
Providence. 
Albany, N. Y. 
Providence. 



PROOEEDH^J-GS 



RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



SPECIAL :meeting. 



Providexce, January 28, 1879. 

A meeting was held this evening at 7| o'clock, Vice Presi- 
dent Allen in the chair. 

A note was read from the Librarian, who was detained by 
indisposition, announcing numerous donations made since the 
last meeting, among which was a piece of the first Atlantic 
Cable, with an original letter from Cyrus "W. Field, pre- 
sented by Christopher Burr, Esq. 

Hon. Abraham Payne then addressed the Society on the 
Life and Times of Jonathan Edwards. Mr. Payne stated, 
at the outset, that his object was not to present a sketch of 
this most reiuarka])le theologian, l)ut simply to awaken inter- 
est in his writings. He spoke for upAvards of an hour, 
enlisting the close attention of his auditors. 

At the" conclusion of his address, Rev. ]Mr. Stajdes related 
several striking anecdotes illustrative of the eloquence and 



14 EHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

earnestness of the o;reat divine, and concluded his remarks 
by offering a resolution thanking ]Mr. Payne for his eloquent 
and interesting discourse, which resolution was seconded by 
Hon. Thomas A. Doyle, and after some spirited remarks by 
Vice President Allen, was unanimouslj^ passed. 

Col. John AVard, of Xew York, was announced to read the 
next paper on the 11th of February. 

The meetino: was numerously attended, and the exercises 
passed off in a most satisfactorA^ manner. 

Adjourned. 

Amos Pekky, Sec'y. 



SPECIAL MEETING. 



Providence, February 11, 1879. 

A meeting was held this evening to hear a paper read by (Jol. 
John Ward, of Xew York, Vice President Allen in the chair. 

A list of donations received since the last meetino- Mas 
read by the Secretary. Besides twenty books and pamphlets 
was a relic of slavery in the form of a slave chain taken 
from the body of a negro who was found chained with it to 
a tree on the plantations of ]Mr. Belson, near Simmsport, 
Louisiana, in May, 1863, by Capt. Peter Brucker, of the 
Second Rhode Island Cavalry, and b\' him presented to the 
Society. 

Col. John "Ward read a graphic and succinct account of 
the Siege of Harper's Feny by Stonewall Jackson in 1862, 



PROCEEDINGS. 15 

The reading occupied an hour and a half, and was listened 
to with profound attention. 

On motion of Prof. Diniun, Col. Ward received a unani- 
mous vote of thanks for the highly interesting paper. In 
offering the resolution, Prof. Diman paid a marked compli- 
ment to the lecturer, and Vice President Allen added his 
word of commendation. 

Notwithstanding the rain-storm the room was well filled. 

Dr. Henry E. Turner, of Newport, was announced to 
read tlie next paper on the 2oth inst., to which time the 
meeting was adjourned. 

Amos Perry, Sedy. 



SPECIAL MEETING. 



Providence, February 25, 1879. 

A meeting was held this evening at a quarter before eight 
o'clock. Vice President Allen in the chair. 

Dr. Henry E. Turner read a paper on Jeremiah Clarkt^ 
and his descendants, showing this family to have been 
remarkable for the number of governors and deputy-govern- 
ors it has furnished the State, and for the wide diflusion of its 
blood through the old colonial families of various names. 
The i)aper evinced extensive and thorough historical re- 
search, and threw much light on a portion of our history 
pertaining to the period of the Sir Edmond Andros usurpa- 
tion. It vividly portrayed some of the leading characters 



1(3 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

of the Jeremiah Clarke family, and set forth in a clear li<>ht 
the principles of the o})posing factions in the State. 

At the close of the reading, which occupied an hour and a 
half, some spirited and highly complimentary remarks were 
oflered by Messrs. Denison, Allen and Perry, and a unani- 
mous vote of thanks was passed to Dr. Turner for his 
exhaustive and instructive address, which, it Mas remarked, 
should be printed and widely circulated. 

Notice was given that John Austin Stevens, Esquire, Edi- 
tor of the Magazine of American History, would read the 
next paper, March 11, on the French in Khode Island. 

The meeting was then adjourn(HL 

xVmos Perry, Sec'y. 



SPECIAL MEETING. 



Providence, ]\Iarcli 11, 1<S7!). 

A special meeting was held this evening, Vice President 
Allen in the chair. 

The record of the last meeting was read and approved. 
Also, a list of contributions received 1)V the Librarian was 
read. 

John Austin Stevens, Esquire, Editor of the Magazine of 
American History, was then introduced and proceeded to 
read a paper on the French in Rhode Island during our 
Revolutionary War. Opening with ex[)ressions of satisfac- 
tion that the French nation has established a republican 



rROCEEDlNGS. 1 7 

tonn of oovernineiit, ^iv. Stevens j)r()eee(Ie(l to oive a full 
iiiid exceeding-ly interestiiiii- history of the French troops in 
Khode Island from the ori>anization and arrival of the tirst 
expedition under Count d'Estaino- to aid the United States in 
estal)lishini»- their indeju'ndenee, till the departure of the 
.second expedition under Count Uoehanibeau, after the sur- 
render of Cornwallis at Yorktown, which eh)sed the Kevolu- 
tionarv A\'ar. 

The paper gave a detailed account of the French occu})a- 
tion of our State and of their military and civic relations 
with the o-overnment and the })eo})le, and moi'e especially 
with the inhabitants of New})ort and Providence, l)y whom 
the French allies were Avarmly welcomed as the friends of 
our republic, then struii'o'lino; into existence, and entertained 
with a cordial and generous hospitality as champions of the 
American cause. Personal sketches were also given of 
prominent F'rench otKcers of both expeditions and of many 
l)olitical and social mo\ cments and events with which they 
were connected during their residence in this State and 
country. 

The Historical Cabinet was tilled with an audience of 
ladies and gentlemen who listened to the reading of the 
])aper with deep interest. 

Mr. Stevens received the thaidvs of the Society, embodied 
in a resolution ofiered by l\t. l\ev. Thomas ]\I. Clark and 
seconded b}- Prof. J. Lewis Diman. Some highly interest- 
ing; reminiscences were added bv A'ice President Allen, and 
critical remarks l)y Messrs. Clark, Diman and Denison. 

Adjourned. 

Amos Peimiy, /Srri/. 



18 KHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

QUARTERLY MEETING. 



PijoviUENCE, April 1, 1(S79. 

The quarterly meeting of the Society was held this even- 
ing, at a quarter before eight o'clock. Vice President Allen 
in the chair. 

The Secretary read the record of the last meeting and of 
the last annual meeting. lie also announced the reception 
of letters from Don Jose ]\Iaria I^atino Coellio, Secretary of 
the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, Portugal, 
accepting with thanks his election as an honorary member ; 
and from Hon. Thomas C. Amory, of Boston, his election 
as a corresponding member of the Society. The Secret:iry 
then laid ])efore the Society the following connnunication : 

ri!ovn)i';NCK, K. I , April 1, lS7t). 
Mr. Amos rerrij, Secretart/ It. I. Historical Society: 

Deak Sh! :— I hereby present, through you, to the Ilhode Ishiiitl Histori- 
cal Society tiie accompanying watch, which was the property of my late 
luisbaiid, Captain Joseph Herlitz, Commander of the great ship Ganges, 
when she was driven up to the head of the Cove'by the great gale of Sep- 
tember 23, 1815. It was worn by him at that time. It has always been an 
excellent time keeper, and in running onler up to a recent time, when it 
was injured by .scune repairs. 

Its manufacturer was Richard Farrell, of Dublin, Ireland, and it came 
into my husband's possession at the close of a voyage, — a gift from the 
owner of the vessel. Since his death, December 18, 1817, it has naturally 
been a most precious memento to me of by-gone days and events, and 
now feeling the thread of life to be nearly run, — being In my eighty-third 
year,— I desire to deposit the watch in the safekeeping of your honorable 
Society, that it may be handed down to future generations as an interesting 
relic and memorial of olden times. 

I am respectfully yours, 

Louis.v (Lu'pitt) Ukulitz. 

The following resolutions oft'ered by Rev. E. M. Stone, 
were then unanimously passed : 



PROCEEDINGS. 19 

Jiesolrrd, Tliat tlie tluniks of this Society arc licrohy presented to Mrs. 
Louisa Lippitt Ilerlitz for tlie very acceptable donation of a watcli, worn 
by her late husband, Captain Joseph Herlitz, Commander of the great ship 
Ganiies ^vhen driven by the great gale of September 23, 1815, and the 
force of an extraordinary tide, against the Washington Building, and 
there stranded. 

Ix'csolvcd, That in accepting the gift of Mrs Herlitz this Society begs 
leave to assure her that it shall be preserved with great care among its 
articles of virtu. 

The Lil)rarian annouiK-ed niimorons donations and ox- 
cliano'os since tlie last niec^ting. 

Mr. R. P. Everett otiered the following resolution, Avhioh 
was seconded by Rev. E. M. Stone Avith a brief eidogy of 
Mr. Williams, after which it was adopted inianimously : 

Resolved, That by the death of William Greene Williams, the Society 
has been deprived of one of its oldest, most active and devoted members, 
and that in view of his long and useful services, a record of this event be 
made by tl>e Secretary, and a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the 
family of the deceased. 

Mr. A. Y. Jenks, chairman of the Committee on Nomina- 
tion of Xew ^Members, reported in favor of the election of 
the folloAving gentlemen, and they were acconlingly elected : 

Kksident Mkmhers.— John II. Stiness, Charles D. Jillson, Wintlirop 
DcWolf, Edward B. Knight. 

CoiJUKsPONOiNG Mkmi5E1!.s. — Ray Greene Huling, Fitchburg, Mass., Dr. 
A. W. Holden, Glenn's Falls, N. Y. 

HoxoRAHY Mkmhkij.— Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Cambridge, Mass. 

Mr. George T. Paine read a detailed report, in behalf of 
the Committee appointed a year ago to keep the Cabinet 
open, and })roseciite the work of cataloguing the effects of 
the Society, together with the Act of the (icneral Assembly 
granting annually to the Society five hundred dollars for the 
care, preservation and utilization of the State property in 
charge of the Society. The Act, which was formally 
accepted, reads as follows : 



20 RHODE ISLAND HLSTORICAL SOCIETY. 

\_rassed at the January Session, 7S79.~\ 

CHAPTER 7U. 

AX ACT IX AMEXDMEXT OF CHAPTER 24 OF THE GEXEUAL STATUTES 
"OF THE STATE LIBRAUY." 

(Passed Marcli 7, 1870.) 

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows : 

Section 1. The sum of five luindred dollars is anminlly appropriated, 
to be expended under the direction of the Rhode Ishmd Historical Soci- 
ety, for the care and preservation and the cataloguing of the i)roperty of 
the State in its keeping, and for purchase and binding of books relating to 
the liistory of the State, and for copying and preserving the records in the 
several towns of the State. 

Skc 2. The Rhode Island Historical Society shall annually, at tlie May 
session, make report to the General Assembly of the manner in whicli the 
above appropriation has been expended. 

Skc. 3. All books and papers belonging to tlie State, in the keeping of 
the Rhode Island Historical Society, or which may be purchased under 
the above appropriation, shall be plainly marked as the property of the 
State, and shall at all seasonable times be for the use of tlie citizens of 
the State. 

Skc. 4. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. 

The report was {iccepted, and the followitiir resohilioii, 
recommended by the Committee, was th(Mi adopted : 

Resolved, That be a Committee who shall arrange with 

the General Treasurer for the payment of the money appropriated by the 
Legislature of the State to the annnal use of the Historical Society, and 
shall, in their discretion, disburse the same in accordance with the pro- 
visions of the act. 

Messrs. John H. Stiness, Charles W. Parsons and George 
T. Paine were nominated and elected as the Committee })ro- 
vided for by the above resolution. 

A recommendation for the appointment of a (V>inmittee 
on Criticism failed to pass. 

Mr. George T. Paine otfered several pro})osed amend- 



PROCEEDINGS. • 21 

inents to tho (\)iistitnti()ii, wliicli were road, and oontimuMl 
for action to tho iioxt (juartorly meeting in July. 

On motion of Mr. Amos Perry, the thanks of the Society 
were voted to the Special Committee, for their extended, 
otfioiont and satistactory work in roorganizinij and cataloonin«: 
the Lil)rary and kooj)in<j^ it open and aceessibk'. 

Mr. A. V. Jonks nominated ^Ir. William ]\IaxwellCireene 
as a meml)er of the Committee on the Nomination of New 
Momlxn's, in place of William Greene Williams, deceased, 
and ho was elected. 

Mr. R. P. Everett offered the following resolution, which 
was read and passed : 

Eesolved, That five hundred copies of the Reports of the Librarian, 
Treasurer, and various Standing Committees, together with the Proceed- 
ings of 1878-9, be printed for the use of the members, the cost of the 
same not to exceed one hundred and fifty dollars. 

The followino- named g-entlemen were nominated, and 
elected : 

PnocuRATORS. — George C. Mason, Newport; William J. Miller, Bristol ^ 
Erastus Richardson, Woonsocket; Henry F. Smith, Pawtucket; Dr.. 
Charles H Fisher, Scituate; George II. Oluey, Hopkinton. 

On motion, the meeting Avas then adjourned. 

Amos Perry, Sec't/.. 



SPECIAL :\IEETING. 



Providence, May 20, IMT'J. 

A meeting Avas held this evening, the President in the 
chair, to hear a paper read l)y Rev. George E. Ellis, D. Di, 



22 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

of Boston, on "The Present Indian Question witli our Gov- 
ernment." 

The high reputation of Dr. Ellis as a writer, together with 
a warm interest in the subject of his paper, drew together a 
numerous and eager audience. .Vt the l)ej>innino; of the dis- 
(Uission Dr. Ellis repeated, as a guiding })rinciple, the quaint 
adage that no question is settled until it is rightly settled. 
The discourse was the fruit of a vigorous and well-trained 
mind, thoroughly enlisted in the discussion of a grave and 
])ractical subject, and its author received at the conclusion of 
the reading, on motion of Prof. J. Lewis Diman, seconded 
by Hon. John 11. Bartlett, the imanimous thanks of the 
Society. One of the conclusions reached l)y Dr. Ellis, and 
urged as the key to all right action in the premises, was, 
that our Government is the guardian of the Indians and, 
conversely, that the Indians are the wards of the (Jovcrn- 
ment. On this ])oint he s])oke"Avitli positiveness, bewailing 
the evils that have resulted from mixed systems and con- 
fused ideas. To longer waver here is, he said, l)oth a folly 
and a crime. The guardian must exercise good faith, decis- 
ion and energy,, and at the same time must insist that his 
wards shall have fixed habitations and shall cultivate such 
liabits of industry as tend to Christian civilization, ^^'ith()ut 
disparaging the War Department, he insisted on the exercise 
of moral force, and especially on fairness and honesty in our 
dealings Avitli these children of the forest. He denounced as 
l)arbarous and heathenish, the doctrine of extermination, 
understood to l)e favored by some citizens outside our mili- 
tary ranks. The general tenor of the discourse was pro- 
nounced by Prof. Diman to be in accord with the teachings 
of Roger AVilliams and John Elliot, whose apostolic charac- 
ter has received the sanction of the present generation. 

On motion, the meeting was adjourned. 

Amos PEiiRY, fSec'y. 



PROCEEDINGS. 28 



QUAIITEliLY MEETING. 



Phovidexce, July 1, 1879. 

The regular quarterly ineetiu<>- was held this afternoon at 8 
o'eloek, the President in the eliair. 

The record of the last (|uarterly meeting was read and 
approved. 

A letter was also read from Hon. Charles Francis Adams 
accepting the office of honorary member of the Society, and 
ex})ressing an interest in the objects pro})osed. The Secre- 
tary also gave an abstract of letters from Mr. Hay Greenti 
Huling, of Fitchburg, ]\Iass., acknowledging the honor of 
his election as corresponding member, and ex})rcssing his 
readiness to co-operate in promoting the objects of the 
Society. 

The Librarian reported numerous valuable donations 
made since the last quarterly meeting, among which was the 
Whitney Genealogy, consisting of three superbly bound and 
illustrated volumes, presented by J. Whitney Phoenix, of 
New York. This o-enerous donation called forth warm 
exjn-essions of ai)})reciation and of gratitude to the donor, 
though no formal vote was })assed. 

The Committee on the Nomination of New Members rec- 
ommended, through Mr. A. V. Jenks, the following persons 
for membership, and they were accordingly elected : 

Rksidknt Mkmbkrs.— Hev. C. A. L. Richards, Rev. E. H. Johiisoii, D. D., 
Rev. D. H. Gieer unci Amos D. Lockwood, Esq. 

IIONOUAUY MicMBKU. — Prof. K. Gislason, Secretary of the Rojal Society 
of Nortiierii Antiquaries, Copenliagen, Denmark. 



24 RHODE ISLAND HI8TOKICAL SOCIETY. 

The Secretary laid l)efore the Society a letter from the 
Hon. John H, Stiness tenderinp: to the Society the resigna- 
tion of his office as a member of the Special Committee to 
carry out the State Appropriation Act. After due consider- 
ation the motion was made and passed that Vice President 
Allen l)e appointed a Committee to confer with Judge Sti- 
ness and request him to favor the Society with his continued 
services as a inenil)er of the above named (^ommittee. 

The amendments to the Constitution, proposed at the last 
quarterly meeting and referred for action to the present meet- 
ing, were taken up and discussed section by section. The 
section proposing to have a standing connnittee lo be caUed 
"A Library (\)nnnittee," and the section dehning the duties 
of this connnittee, were laid \\\Hn\ the tal)lc to bi- calKnl u}) 
for action at the next aiuiual niccting. All the other pro- 
})Osed amendments wc^re indefinitely postponed. 

^Ir. TIenry T. Beckwith received permission to take from 
the lil)rary, under the usual restrictions, a certain l)0()k, for 
the purpose of having a picture therein copied. 

A resolution was offered and seconded, liavdng for its 
object the prevention of hasty action in stam})ing the seal of 
the State on the Society's collections. After the manifesta- 
tion of a lively interest on the subject the resolution was 
Avithdrawn. 

A report from the Special Connnittee appointed at the 
last (quarterly meeting to carry out the General .Vssembly 
grant of mone}' was called for. The Committee had reported 
to the General Assembly, and, })robably l>y oversight, had 
failed to account to the Society to which it is primarily 
responsible. Vice President Allen was appointed a Commit- 
tee to look after this branch of business. 

Mr. Edward S. Babbitt gave, l)y invitation, an extended 



PROCEEDINGS. 25 

account of the pro})()scd ))i-cciitcnuial cele1)ration at Ikistol 
(luring the coming year, and near the close of his remarks, 
which were listened to with lively interest, invited the co-ope- 
ration and friendlv aid of the Societv in l)rin<>in2: about the 
proposed re-union and jubilee. 

Mr. Babbitt's glowing account and earnest api)eal drew 
forth a jirompt response hy Mr. Perry, who expressed, in 
l)ehalf of the Society, a hearty appreciation of the historic 
movement in the town of Bristol, and at the conclusion of 
his remarks, offered the following resolution : 

Resolved, That leaniiiig this afternoon of the proposed bi-ceutennial 
observance in Bristol, the Historical Society seizes the occasion to send 
words of greeting to that delightful historic town upon Narragansett and 
Mt. Hope Bays, expressing a lively interest in the proposed celebration, 
and proffering such co-operation and aid as are in its power. 

The resolution was seconded l)y Prof. J. Lewis Dinian, 
and after calling forth cordial expressions of interest from 
Messrs. Diman, Stone, Allen and Southwick, was unani- 
mously ado})ted. 

Mr. Bennet J. Munro, the veteran journalist, and an 
authoritative antiquarian of Bristol, responded in brief terms 
to some enquiries al)out the early history of his native town. 

On motion, the meeting was adjourned. 

Amos Perry, Sec't/. 



QUARTERLY MEETING. 



Providence, October 7, IS 71). 

The meeting was called to order at a quarter before eight 
4 



26 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

o'clock, when, Yice President xVllen not having arrived, lion. 
John II. Bartlett was called to the chair. 

The record of the last meeting was read. 

The Librarian reported the donations received since the 
last meeting, consisting of 239 pamphlets, 7<S Ijound vol- 
umes, 25 volumes of newspapers, I'S unl)ound volumes of 
books, 3 maps, 19 single papers, and other smaller contribu- 
tions. 

The Secretary read an extract from a private letter written 
by the President of the Society expressing regret that seri- 
ous indisposition comi)elled him to abandon the intention of 
attending either of the meetings this week. 

The Secretary also read a connmmication from ]Mr. A\'il- 
liam H. Spooner, Secretary of the Bi-Centennial Committee 
of Bristol, gratefully acknowledging the action taken by this 
Society at the last quarterly meeting in reference to their 
jH'oposed bi-centennial observance. 

The Secretary reported that Judge Stiness had consented 
to yield to the" recjuest of the Society to serve on the Com- 
mittee appointed at the April quarterly meeting. 

A cop3' of the report made to the General Asseml)ly at tlu^ 
last INIay session by the Committee ai)pointed to carry out 
the provisions of the State Appro})riation Act, was read and 
received. 

The Committee on the Xomination of Xew Members re- 
ported through their chairman, Mr. A. V. Jenks. Their 
report Avas received and adopted, the election resulting as 
follows : 

Resident Members.— William J. Cross, William T. Barton. 

Corresponding Members.— Lt. -Col. Thomas L. Casey, U. S. A., Wash- 
ington, D. C ; Hon. Edouard Madier de Montjau, President de la Societe 
Ethuologique Americaiue, Paris, France. 

Life Member,— Royal Woodward, Esq., Albany, N. Y. 



PROCEEDINGS. 27 

]\Ii'. Woodward has the honor of l)cing the tii-st non-resi- 
dent life nienil)er ever elected hy the Society, this action 
resultino- from a letter addressed l)y him to Rev. E. M. Stone, 
wherein he expressed a lively interest in the objects of our 
Society, and sua<rested that it Avould aftbrd him pleasure to 
I)ecome a life member. That the compliment thus paid' the 
Society Avas api)reciated by our members was ap}n-opriately 
shown on the occasion, and the desire was expressed that the 
Secretary should note this fact. 

Kev. E. ]M. Stone otiered the following resolution, })re- 
facing it with a l)rief account of the labors and expense 
involved in the })reparation and publication of the work 
referred to at the last quarterly meeting : 

liesolved, That the thanks of this Society are hereby presented to Steven 
Whitney rh(L'nix, Esq., of New York, for liis muniflceut gift of three, 
elegantly printed volumes comprising the Genealogy of "the Whitney 
Family of Connecticut and its attiliations," prepared by himself, a work 
exhaustive in its ciiaracter, and a noble monument of his successful 
endeavors. 

The resolution Avas seconded by Vice President Allen, and 
after the most cordial endorsement of its sentiments l)yhim, 
and l)y Hon. John R. Bartlett, was unanimousl}^ passed. 

The following resolution w^as offered l)y Rev. J]. M. Stone, 
and seconded by Vice President Allen, and after these gen- 
tlemen and the chairman of the evening had made remarks 
showing their high appreciation of the value of the gift, and 
one of them had stated that probably hot another set of the 
Boston Liberator could be had on any terms, the resolution 
was unanimously passed : 

liesolved, That the thanks of this Society are hereby presented to Mrs. 
John Carter Brown for her very acceptable donation to its library of a 
complete set of the Boston Liberator.* 

* When tilis action took place the set of Liberators was supposed to be complete, but on 
subsciiucnt examination it was ascertained that the first live volumes were wanting. 



28 EHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

On motion of Mr. 11. P. Everett, the following resolution 
was unanimously passed : 

Besolved, That the Society hereby authorizes the purchase of the series 
of Rider's Historical Tracts, now iu the course of publicatiou. 

Eev. Mr. Stone asked permission to make a drawing or 
photograph of the sword and pistols that used to belong to 
Col. Ephraim Bowen, wdiile in public service during the 
Revolutionary War. The petitioner's object being to illus- 
trate an important work now in the course of preparation 
for the press, a vote was promptly taken granting his request. 

At this stage in the proceedings the Seci-etary was called 
away, and Mr. Edwin Barrows was chosen to discharge his 
duties till the close of the meeting. 

On motion of Mr. George T, Paine, it was 

Vvted, That the expense of heating the I'oora and taking care of it be 
paid bj' the Society. 

A lengthy, though somewhat informal discussion took 
place, having for its object to ascertain the true intent and 
interpretation of the api)r()priation act of the last General 
Assembly. The result of the prolonged interview and great 
freedom of expression was to somewhat harmonize very 
conflicting views and to moderate, if not remove, fears of 
serious complications if not of losses entertained by some 
devoted members of the Society. The Chairman of the 
Committee on the State appropriation. Judge Stiness, gave 
his opinion that the Society did not risk losing the control of 
the books, pamphlets and manuscripts by having them bound 
at the expense of the State. 

Adjourned. 

Amos Perey, Sec']/. 



PROCEEDINGS. 29 



SPECIAL MEETING. 



Providence, October 10, 1879. 

The meeting held this evening was called to order at a 
([iiarter before eight o'clock l)y Vice President Allen, ^vho 
introduced the Hon. Isaac X. Arnold, the President of the 
Chicago Historical Society, as the speaker of the evening. 

]Mr. Arnold then rose and gave a discourse upon " Who 
led the American Troops to Victory in the Northern Cam- 
l)aign of 1777?" occupying more than an hour and a half 
in the deliverv, closelv eno;ao-in<i: the attention of the audi- 
ence and throwing much light on certain great military 
movements and feats of skill and valor, which happening 
just in the nick of time turned the current of events in favor 
of the colonists l)y giving them hoi)e and contidence and 
l)ringing to their support powerful French naval and land 
forces. The portrait of Benedict Arnold was drawn witli 
inasterh' skill and discrimination. No attempt was made tO' 
})alliate the traitors crime. Treason is death to its author,. 
giWng him a hue supposed to belong to the dwellers in Tar- 
tarus. No colors are too l»lack to be-tit the traitor. The 
dyes, however, l)elong onl}' to the peritxl after the evil has 
been perpetrated. Because Adam sinned we do not refii^je 
to acknowledge his previous innocence. Neither should Ave 
refuse to acknowledg^e Benedict Arnold's sood deeds l)cfore 
his fall. His bravery, skill, perseverance and patriotic 
endeavors are mere matters of histoiy to which we should 
not be blind. This is simple justice. The difficulty and 
delicacy of the task undertaken In' ]Mr. Arnold Avere appreci- 
ated by the audience. At the conclusion of the address the 
Hon. John R. Bartlett made a motion that the thanks of the 
Society l)e presented to Mr. Arnold for his paper, evincing 



30 EHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

thorough research and investigation, good schohirship and 
sound reasoning, and that a copy of the paper be requested 
for the archives of the Society, which motion, after being 
seconded and endorsed by the Secretary and the Chairman, 
was unanimously passed. 

On motion, the meeting was adjourned. 

Amos Pekkv, >SVry. 



SPECIAL MEETING. 



PnoviDEXCE, Xoveml)er '), IS?!).. 

The meeting' was called to order at 7| o'clock, and in the 
absence of the President and both \"ice Presidents Rev. 
Carlton \. Staples was elected Chairman. 

The Librarian announced 10(1 donations received .since the 
last meeting ; of which 40 were bound volumes, 45 pamphlets, 
and the remainder nowspajwr.s. 

A communication from Kev. Frederick Denison was laid 
before the Society, suggesting that an elibrt be made to pre- 
serve some portion of an old Indian pottery manufacturing- 
establishment, recently brought to light on the farm of Mr. 
H. X. Angell, in the town of Johnston, and a Committee 
consisting of Rev. Frederick Denison, Vice President Allen 
and William G. R. Mowry was appointed to take this matter 
into consideration, and report at a subsequent meeting. 

The Chairman then introduced General Horatio Rogers, 
who read a paper on La Corne St. Luc, the leader of Bur- 



PROCEEDINGS. 31 

Ji'oyuo'.s Indians, (icneral Rogers first sketched the ^jersonnd 
of Burgoyne's officers, and from their character reasoned 
that the leader of Bnrgoyne's Indians wouht l)e a man of no 
common order. lie alhided to the feeling of Burgoyuc 
against the employment of Indians in the war against the 
Colonists, — a feeling Avhich the home government did not 
resjjcct, — and then gave a l)rief but comprehensive and ex- 
ceedingly interesting sketch of La Come St. Luc, St. Luc 
had })erformed eminent civil and military service in C\mada 
before the Revolutionary AVar. He was an active leader 
against the English in Canada, but during the Revolutionary 
struggle he joined hands with his former enemies, the 
English, Avho had gained possession of Canada. Disappointed 
and chagrined he made })reparations to leave Canada and 
reach France with his family and followers, and he set sail, 
but the vessel was wrecked, his family and most of his fol- 
lowers lost, and after a joiu-ney of sixteen hundred and tifty 
miles, in the severest season of the year, he arrived at Qiie- 
])ec February 23, 17(52. The loss of his family and friends 
changed his plan of life, and he remained in the country. 
For several years he was Superintendent of the Indians in 
Canada, and in 17.78 was one of the Legislative Counsellors. 
When the hostilities between Great Britain and the American 
Colonies began St. Luc, then sixty-six years old, took up for 
the Crown, and his pai-tisanship was intensified by a feeling 
of revenge for ill-treatment at the hands of General ]Mont- 
gomery. The services and atrocities of the Indians, during 
the campaign under Burgoyne, were described, and the 
paper closed with a summing up of the character of St. Luc, 
who was represented as a man of education and civil and 
military ability, but also as brutal, sanguinary', grasping, 
avaricious and unprincipled. 

The pa})er was received Avitli marked favor by a highly 
ai)preciative audience, and at the conclusion of the reading, 
on motion of Rev. E. M. Stone, who otfered extended 



32 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

remarks on the general sul)ject, the following resolution was 
unanimously passed : 

Besolved, That the thauks of this Society are hereby presented to Gen- 
eral Horatio Rogers, for the liighiy interesting and valuable contribution 
to the military historj^ of the Revolutionary period of the United Ameri- 
can Colonies, read this evening, and that a copy of the same be requested 
for the archives of the Society. 

On motion, the meeting was adjourned. 

Amos Perry, Sec'y. 



SPECIAL MEETING. 



Providence, November 1!), 1)S79. 

The meeting was called to order this evening at 7 1 o'clock 
by Vice President Allen, who at once introduced Prof. J. L. 
Lincoln, LL. I)., as the lecturer of the evening. The latter 
began with the remark that he had had occasion recently to 
examine the character and works of the Historian Tacitus, 
and that in this essay it was his aim to set forth the impres- 
sions and reflections derive<l from that careful study. Tacitus 
needs to be very patiently studied in order to be appreciated. 
He has never Ijeen jwpular, but in every age he has been 
admired by a few scholars who have recognized the value of 
his works, and have found in them useful political lessons. 
Prof. Lincoln proceeded to review the little that is known of 
the private and public life of Tacitus. He showed that in 
the conduct of affairs the historian gained the fame of wis- 
dom, experience and influence, and that like results were 
won by him as a lawyer. He then referred to his Agricola 
and Germania, which he regarded as historical studies pre- 



PROCEEDINGS. 33 

paratorv to lii.s subsequent works, Avhieli, unfortunately, have 
not l)een preserved to us entire. Tacitus had to deal with 
the imperial system. He had to treat of it in liiet as well 
as substance, and as administered in a tyrannical s})irit, 
characterized by frantic excesses and exhibitions of cruelty 
without ])arallcl. Xo reader was so well aware of the soljcr 
character of his historical task as the writer himself. The 
process of historical research in the age of Tacitus was not 
so critical as in modern times. His work consisted, it is 
probable, not so nmcli in the examination and verification of 
documents and records as in the sifting- and comparing of 
the Avorks of his predecessors in the line of his studies. 
Yet we know that he subjected those Avriters to a searching 
comparison, and having reached independent conclusions set 
upon them in his pages the stamp of his own mind. What- 
ever errors and sins might l)e laid to him, the unprejudiced 
reader cannot fail to believe that he was animated by those 
high moral A'iews which he professed. In all issues "where 
Aartue, justice and honor were concerned, attaching to either 
social or public life, his vision was clear, his heart in the right 
place. His antipathies were strong against vice of every 
sort ; against all that was low and debasing for a Roman, 
whether emperor, citizen or magistrate. Yet it must be said 
he was not free from the prejudices of the Roman nation and 
the Roman nobles. The essayist went on to speak of the 
Roman spirit of contempt with which the historian regarded 
foreigners, of his anti})athy to the Jews, of his dislike to the 
Christians. Yet, it is evident, Tacitus Avas not always 
swayed by national feeling, as was evidenced by the admira- 
tion w ith wdiich he regarded the Germans. 

After dwelling at some length upon the political j^rinciples 
of Tacitus, his hatred of despotism and tyranny, and his 
ideas (practical, not visionary-) of republicanism in govern- 
ment, Prof. Lincoln spoke of the merits of the great histo- 
rian as a writer. These Avere due largeh', he said, to the 
imion in him of the powers of thought and reasoning Avith 
5 



34 EHODE ISLAND IIISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

the gift of careful and vivid description, which always 
entered largely into his poetic nature. His narrative w^as 
clear and strong ; his description picturesque and effective. 
By study and insight he htid come to behold distinctly the 
persons and event.s of which he wrote in their essential char- 
acter, and the influences which had made and sha})ed them, 
and he set them before the reader so distinctly that all 
seemed to be present as living realities. In the delineation 
of character and description of the inner life of men his 
power was well nigh unrivalh'd. 

At the conclusion of the reading, on motion of Dr. C. W. 
Parsons, seconded l)y Rev. E. M. Stone, a unanimous vote 
of thanks was passed to Prof. Lincoln for his scholarly and 
elal)orate discourse, which drew forth from the mover of the 
resolution and \ ice Prcsidcnl Allen pertinent and critical 
remarks. 

Rev. Frederick Denison made an extended report in liehalf 
of the Committee appointed at the last meeting to secure 
some suitable memorial of the old Indian pottery manufac- 
turing establishment in the town of Johnston. Owing to 
the lateness of the hour tiction on the report was deferred 
till the next meeting, a\ hen it was ho})ed effective measures 
would be adopted to secure the desired object. 

Adjourned to the 2 2d inst. 

Amos Peuuy, Secy. 



SPECIAL MEETING. 



Proa'idence, November 22, 1879. 
A meeting was held according to appointment at eight 



PROCEEDINGS. 35 

o'clock this cvoniiio-, l)nt oMJiig to the inconsidcrabh^ uttend- 
:ince the meeting was adjourned to the call of the Secretary. 

Amos PEiiity, /S'ec'y. 



SPECIAL xMEETING 



PKOVir)ENCE, December 4, 1879. 

A meeting held this evening Avas called to order at 7| 
o'clock by Vice President Allen. 

The Secretary laid before the Society a letter from Col. 
Thomas Lincoln Casey, U. S. A., of Washington, D. C, 
and a letter from Mr. Royal Woodward, of Albany, N. Y., 
the former acknowledging the honor of his election as a cor- 
responding member of the Society, and the latter as a life 
meml)er, and both expressing a warm interest in the objects 
of the institution. 

The Secretary also laid before the Society a letter from 
Mr. James Eddy Mauran, of Xewi)ort, offering to sell at cost 
a chest of papers which the owner purchased with the view 
of their preservation and tinal transfer to the Historical Cabi- 
net. Some of the papers relate to the purchase of land, 
buildings and supplies for light-houses ; some from David 
Howell, and others relate to the seizure of vessels from 17118 
to 1816; some relate to revenue suits prior to 1800; some 
are fishery l>ounty jiapers ; some are books and correspond- 
ence relating to the State loan of 1780, among which are 
letters of the leading caj^italists of the State at that time ; 
some relate to divers legal settlements, and all are of an his- 



3G IlIIODE ISLAND HISTOlilCAL SOCIETY. 

torical cliarnctcr, and have a special interest to Providence. 
The letter was received and referred to the. Librarian to be 
reported on at the annual meeting. 

The Librarian announced the donations received since the 
last meeting, among which were mound builders' beads, 
which were taken from a mound in (ieorgia, and used to 
belong to a President of the Georgia Historical Society, — 
presented by a lady. 

llev, Frederick Denison read, by reiiuest, the lxei)ort of 
the Committee on the Anofell-Johnston Indian Pottery Devel- 
opment. The report was received and ordered on tile to be 
printed with the Proceedings of the Society. The report 
was then adopted, and Messrs. William G. R. Mowry, 
Frederick Denison and Henry T. Beckwith Avere apj)ointed 
a Connnittee to carry into action the views contained in the 
rei)ort. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAI, 
SOCIETY ON THE OLD INDIAN STEATITE POTTERY. 

Your Committee, after different meetings, visits and examinations of 
tlie quarry in Johnston, and consultations with scholars and business men, 
having duly weighed all evidence and opinions, respectfully report the 
following facts and recommendations : 

I. TllK KACTS. 

1. This ledge of soapstone is located in Johnston, R. I., about one- 
eighth of a mile west of the Greek Tavern, north of the Hartford turn- 
pike, on the lands of Mr. Horatio N. Angell. 

2. The quarry was first opened by Mr. Angell in February, 1878, from 
which time it has attracted large and increasing attention both within our 
State and ftir beyond it. 

3. The stratum of steatite containing the pottery is about twenty-five 
feet in thickness, having a dip to the east, and has now been cleared of 
drift and the debris of Indian art for the space of about a hundred feet. 
It lies between walls of slate stone. 

4. In this stratum are several excavations made by the aborigines in 
securing stone pots, pans, dishes and pipes. One excavation, however, 
surpasses all others in magnitude and the marks of Indian workmanship. 

5. This largest excavation measures about ten feet in length, six feet 



PROCEEDINGS. 37 

in widtli. and now five feet in depth; bnt from the top oftlie ledge, as left 
by the i^hiciers, the excavation nnist have been carried down about fifteen 
feet or. more, inasmuch as when it was opened there lay across its top a 
fallen slab of slate stone that once stood full ten feet high above it, form- 
ing its eastern wall. 

6. The excavation was found partly tilled with dirt, debris of Indian 
art, some whole stone pots, some partly finished pots, some only blocked 
out, numerous stone hammers, the horns of a deer, the bones of an ani- 
mal and a few shells. Many of these valuable relics have passed into 
private hands and are highly prized. 

7. The sides and bottom of this excavation contain about sixty dis- 
tinct pits and knobs of places where pots and dishes were cut from the 
rock, wliile all parts bear marks and scars made by the stone implements 
of the swarthy quarrymen. 

8. From the excavations and their surroundings have been removed 
about three hundred horse cart loads of the stone chips left l)y the Indian 
workmen, yet some have been preserved by Prof. J. W. P. Jenks, in the 
Museum of Brown University. 

9. Sections of the quarry revealing Indian Avorkmanship and speci- 
mens of the workmen's chips have been secured by the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, the Permanent Exhibition at Philadelphia, the Museum of Brown 
University, the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, the Boston Society of 
Natural History, and the Franklin Society of Providence. 

10. Some of the stone pots found in the excavations, amid the debris, 
are now a i)art of the very valuable private Indian Cabinet of Mr. Charles 
Gorton, of this city. 

11. Naturalists, ethnologists and students of history are anxious to 
secure views and specimens from this remarkable quarry. Au able report 
of it was made bj' Prof. Putnam, Curator of the Peabody Museum. 

12. It is a historical fact stated by Hutchinson, (p. 458,') and quoted by 
Potter iu his History of Narragansett, (p. 8,) that the Narragansetts were 
distinguished for mechanical arts and trade, and furnished earthen vessels 
and pots for cooking to the adjacent native tribes. 

13. It is confidently computed by men of judgment in such premises 
that this quarry must have beeu worked b}' the aborigines for centuries 
before whites visited this coast, and that, first and last, this ledge must 
have yielded thousands of pieces of stone ware. 

14. So far as now known this ledge, is the only pottery of the kind in 
New England, and must have been exceedingly valuable and famed amoug 
all the tribes of the country. 

15. All who have visited the pottery have instinctively felt that some- 
how it ought to be preserved ; and those who have studied it most are tlie 
most emphatic in this opinion. 

IG. The conviction of all minds is that it ought to be secured and held 
as a revelation and monument of Indian life and a historical treasure of 
Rhode Island. 



38 RHODE ISLAND IIISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

17. The citizens of Providence and of the State, so far as they ha\e 
expressed themselves, are unanimous and hearty in their approval of the 
action talcen by the Rhode Island Historical Society, and indicate a readi- 
ness to support the Society in any wise and eftectual phui for securing and 
preserving the section of the ledge containing the wonderful worksliop. 

18. The owner of the ledge is ready and anxious to co-operate with 
the Society in any proper plan for preserving the unique memorial. 

19. Photographic views of the ledge from different positions liave been 
secured by Mr. Angell, and fine stereoscopic views of the excavations 
were secured by Prof. J. W. P. Jenlis, Curator of the Museum of Brown 
University. 

20. This ancient Indian workshop, properly preserved, Avould be a fit- 
ting, perpetual and impressive monument of tlie life, arts and customs of 
the aboriginal tribes of Rhode Island, wiiose hands executed it, and a rare 
historical and ethnological treasure in our country. 

21. It is felt that it might reflect very seriously upon our historical 
knowledge and our archaeological taste and interests, to sufler this ancient 
and conspicuous evidence of Indian art and workmanship to be broken up 
or secured by parties out of our State, as we fear it may be. 

22. While relics and memorials of old nations are being eagerly sought 
in all lands at vast expense and treasured in costly museums, as aids in 
the study of history, archjeology, and anthropology — ail studies of vital 
interest — it Is urged that Rhode I.sland cannot afford to be indifferent to 
the most remarkable memorial of Indian life in New England, providen- 
tially found in her own borders, and described in Prof. Putnam's able 
report of it as of superior worth. 

23. So far as we have been able to calculate, after taking counsel of 
good judges, the large excavati )n may be secured and eligibly located in 
our already beautiful Roger Williams Park, to be henceforth carefully pro- 
tected, at a cost of about six hundred dollars. 

In view of these facts, your Committee would report 

ir. RKCOMMKXDATIONS. 

1. That a Committee of three be chosen to form and execute a plan for 
obtaining and preserving the old Indian Steatite Quarry and Pottery as 
above mentioned, in a section of the ledge to measure about twelve feet 
in length, nine feet in width and seven feet in depth, or of such size as 
may seem to be most suitable, provided the citizens of Providence and of 
the State are willing to contribute the funds necessary for the purpose. 

2. That inasmuch as the worthy idea of having, at some time, a 
museum of Indiaii art in Roger Williams Park has been entertained and 
encouraged by our city officials and citizens — unless a more suitable loca- 
tion shall be found, the authorities of the city of Providence be respect- 
fully asked to grant a place for the keeping of the memorial in Roger Wil- 
liams Park; and that they be requested to designate a spot for this pur- 



PEOCEEDINGS. 39 

pose, on a slope witliin sight, at least, of the statue of the founder of the 
State. 

3. That every member of the Society, and every lover of our State's 
history, feel himself charged with an obligation to co-operate with and 
assist the Committee in executing the measure here proposed. 

4. That the suljscriptions made for carrying out the proposed measure 
be regarded as due when their amount shall reach the sum of six hundred 
dollars. 

5. That copies of this report be put in type for the use of the members 
of the Society and the Committee, in soliciting the subscriptions required. 

All of which is respectfully submitted, 

F. Denison, 
Zachahiah Allen, 

WlLLUM G. R. MOWRY. 

Hon. Zachariah Allen then read a carefully prepared 
essay on the domestic life of the Indians, which contained a 
great amount of valuable information gleaned from niunerous 
authentic sources. The paper was received with marked 
expressions of satisfaction. 

The tal)le, and the shelves and wall behind the President's 
seat w^ere covered with Indian relics gathered in Rhode 
Island, and belonging to the remarkable collection of ]\Ir. 
Charles Gorton, who was highly complimented b}^ Vice 
President Allen and called upon to give some explanation of 
the various utensils before him. Mr. Gorton responded to 
the call, "ivino- a irreat amount of valuable information in a 
brief time. 

Prof. J. W. P. Jenks, of Brown University, Mas next 
called out and made an instructive address, strongly endors- 
ing the views set forth l)v th(> Committee. 

Mr. II. N. Angell, the proprietor of the Indian pottery 
estal)lishment, and Mr. F. Denison each answered the call of 
tile Chairman, speaking in a way to entertain and instruct the 
audience. 

On motion of Mr. William A. Mowr^', avIio prefaced his 



40 ERODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

resolution vdth some very complimentary remarks, the thanks 
of the Society were yoted to ]\Iessrs. Allen, Gorton, Jenks, 
Anoell and Denison for the rich and varied entertainment of 
the eyening. A copy of Mr. .Mien's address was asked for 
to be printed with the Proceedings of the Society, and the 
desire was expressed that another evening should be devoted 
to the history of the Indian. 

The meeting was numerously attended and its interest was 
fully sustained till the close at ten o'clock. 

The announcement was made that Hon. William D. Bray- 
tcm Avoidd read the next })a})er on the Oswego Ex})edition in 
wliich Khode Island Continental troops performed their last 
scrAice before the declaration of peace in 1783. 

Adjourned. 

Amos Perry, Sec^y. 



SPFXTAL :\IEETING. 



Providence, December 10, 1870. 

A meeting held this evening was called fo order at 7| 
o'clock ])y Mce President Allen. 

The Secretary laid before the Society a request signed by 
Mr. George Edward Allen for the loan of the plat of Camp 
Sprague to be hung in the Infjintry Armory at a meeting to 
be held on the 30tli instant. On motion of Mr. A.Y. Jenks, 
it was 

Voted, That the Librarian be authorized to grant the request on the 
usual conditions. 



PlIOCEEDIXGS. 41 

The Librarian annouiu'i'd numerous donations received 
since the hist meeting. 

]Mr. William G. R. ^Fowrv called attention to a marble 
block that used to stand at one end of A^'ashin^■ton liridge, 
and served for many years as a pedestal to the l)nst of 
Washington. 

Hon. William D. Brayton was then introduced and read a 
j)aper on the Oswego Expedition of 1783. He was led to 
essay a sketch of this military enterprise by a crude Ijallad 
which he heard sung in his younger days by a negro famil- 
iarly called Prince Greene, who was in the expedition and 
Avas made a cripple for life by exposures to liiting frosts and 
by the want of suitalde food. The plan of the expedition 
was explained by means of the correspondence between 
Washington and Colonel Willet of Xew York, Avho wa» 
entrusted with the connnand. The fort at Osweo:o was to be 
taken by surprise or not attempted. The effort resulted dis- 
astrously. The sketch, which was drawn largely from the 
authentic documents of the time, closed with the ballad of 
Prince Greene, Avhicli, after pertinent comments and expla- 
nations, Avas admiral)ly read. 

The meeting was fully attended and the interest was sus- 
tained to the close. 

On motion of Rev. E. ]M. Stone, the thanks of the Society 
Avere tendered to Hon. William D. Braj'ton for his entertain- 
ing and valual)le paper, a copy of AA'hich was re(|uested for 
the archives of the Societ\'. 

Adjourned. 

Amos Pekky, Serf/. 



42 EHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

SPECIAL MEETING. 



Peovidexce, December 31, 1S70. 

A meeting was held this evening beginning at a quarter 
l)efore eight o'clock, Vice President Allen in the chair. 

The record of the last meeting was read and approved. 

William B. Weeden, Esq. , was then introduced and read an 
historical sketch of the rise of person and propei'ty, illustrat- 
ing his subject l)y numerous references and quotations. The 
paper was the result of learning, research and industry, and 
showed conclusively that person and property have advanced 
together in the progi-ess of the world. 

At the conclusion of the reading, Prof. J. L. Lincoln 
highly com})limented the learning and research of the lec- 
tiu'er, and moved the following resolution : 

Besolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to William B. 
Weeden, Esq., for his scholarly, interesting and instrnctive paper, and 
that a copy of the same be requested for the archives of the Society. 

The motion was seconded ])y Isaac H. South wick, Esq., 
and after some pithy remarks by Vice President Alien, was 
unanimously passed. ' 

Despite a severe storm of snow and sleet, about thirty of 
our prominent business men were in attendance and listened 
attentively to the discussion of a sul)ject intimately connected 
with their affairs. The interest of the meeting was fully sus- 
tained, though the Chairman expressed his fears at the outset 
lest the absence of ladies might have a dei:)ressing effect. 

After notice that the annual meeting would be held on the 
13th of January the meeting was, on motion, adjourned. 

Amos Perry, Sec't/. 



PROCEEDINGS. 43 



ANNUAL :\ip:etixg. 



PROVIDENCE, Jjimiary lo, 1'^<S0. 

The annual meetinof was held this eveuinij at 11 o'clock, 
Vice President Allen in the chair. 

The Secretary read the records of the last special meeting 
and of the last annual meeting ; also a letter from Hon. 
Francis Brinley, of Newport, expressing regret at his ina- 
bility to be present, and his warm interest in the objects of. 
the Society. 

The Treasurer read his annual report, showing the Society 
to be in a better iinancial condition than ever before. He 
also presented a supplemental report containing a statement 
of numerous facts, both interesting and encouraging to the 
meml)ers of the Society. 

The Librarian and Caliinet Keeper laid before the Society 
his annual report, showing that the last year has been one of 
marked progress, and appealing for earnest effort to supply 
manifest needs. 

The report of ]\Ir. George C. ]Mason as Procurator for 
Newport county was read by the Secretary. It urged earnest 
and systematic efforts to secure biographical sketches of dis- 
tinguished deceased citizens of the State, and a copy of Dr. 
Ezra Styles' diary kept at NeAvport during the time of the 
Revolutionary War. 

The Secretary also read the report of ]\Ir. AYilliam J, ]Mil- 
ler, as Procurator for Bristol county, who spoke of the i)ro- 
posed monument to Massasoit, at Warren, and of the Iji-cen- 
tennial celebration that is to take place at Bristol. 



44 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The Committee on Nomination of New ]\Ienil)crs, recom- 
mended the following named gentlemen for membership, and 
they were accordingly elected : 

Resident Membkbs. — James Coates, Cliristopher Lippitt, William D. 
Brayton, Augustine Joues, E. Webster Clarke, William H Chandler, 
Marsdeu J. Perry, George A. Seagraves, Daniel Burrows, Charles L. Pot- 
ter, Providence; Samuel Clarke, Lincoln; Albert C. Howard, East Provi- 
dence ; AVilfred H. Munroe, Bristol; Amos G.Nichols, Ilopkintou; Wil- 
liam II. Sayles, Pavvtucket. 

CoRKKsroxDixG Me.mbkrs.— Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, Ann Arbor, Michi- 
gan; Samuel Dunster, Esq., Attleboro' Falls, Mass. 

HoxoiJAiiY Member. — Hon. Carl Schurz, Washington, D. C. 

The report of the Committee on (irounds and lluilding 
was read by ^Ir. Sonthwick, showing a detailed acconnt of 
the expenses incnrred. 

The report of the Connnittee on CJenealogical liesearches 
was read 1)y ]Mr. William A. Mowry, and contained an 
encouraging statement in regard to progress in this depart- 
ment of study. On motion of Mr. Mowry, in behalf of the 
Committee, the following resolution was unanimously })assed : 

Besolved, That tlie thanks of this Society are hereby given to Dr. Edwin 
M. Snow and Sidney S. Rider, Esq., for the benefit conferred by them 
upon the public by their valuable and creditable contribution to the his- 
torical literature of Rhode Island in their recent publication of the Regis- 
tration of Births, Marriages and Deaths of the town and city of Provi- 
dence. 

Rev. E. M. Stone presented a re})ort in behalf of the Com- 
mittee on Publications, urging the importance and the expe- 
diency' of issuing a seventh volume of the Society's Proceed- 
ings, and this recommendation was endorsed by Vice President 
Allen. 

The foregoing reports were respectively accepted and 
referred to the Committee on Publications. 

Here the Society proceeded to the election of officers for 
the ensuino; vear with the followinir result : 



n;()('Ki;i)iN(;s. 45 

OKFICKIiS. 

rresident, .... Samuel G. Arnold, Portsinoiitli. 
Vice Presidents, - - - Zacliariuh Allen, Providence. 

Francis Brinley, Newport. 

Secretary, .... Amos Perry, Providence. 

Treasurer, - - - . Richmond P. Everett, 

Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, - Edwin M Stone, " 

Committee on Nomination of New 

Members, - - - Albert V. Jenks. 

William Staples, 

W. Maxwell Greene, 
Committee on Lectures and Head- 
ing; of Papers, - - William Gammell, 

Charles W. Parsons. " 

Amos Perry, " 

Committee on Publications of the 

Society, - - - John K. Bartlett, " 

J. Lewis Diman, " 

Edwin M. Stone, " 

Committee on (ienealogical Ke- 

searches, - - - Henry E. Turner, Newport. 

William A. Mowry, Providence. 

Bennett J. Munro, Bristol 
Committee on Care of Grounds antl 

Builiiing, - - - Isaac H. Southwick, Providence. 

Henry J. Steere, " 

Royal C. Taft, 
Audit Committee, - - - Henry T. Beckwith, '• 

Walter Blodget, 

John P. Walker, 
Procurators, - . - - George C Mason, Newport. 

William J. Miller, Bristol. 

Erastus Richardson, Woonsocket. 

Henry F. Smith, Pawtucket. 

Charles H. Fisher, Scituate. 

George H. Olney, Hopkinton. 

A proposed ainendnieiit to the Constitution, on "whirh 
action was postponed at the July quarterly meeting in 1<S71>, 
was called up, and after some discussion, the (juestion 
whether the Society should have a Standing Connnittee on 
Library, and what should be the duties of said Committee, 



46 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Avas referred to a Committee consisting of Mr. ^MUiam A. 
]Mowiy, Prof. J. Lewis Diman and Gen. Horatio Roger.s, 
who were instructed to report at the next quarterl}^ meeting. 

The report of the Committee on the State Ap})ro[)riation 
was read bv Judge Stiness, and gave an accoimt of the pro- 
gress in catah^o^ning the Society's works. 

The report was received and ^Messrs. Stiness, Parsons and 
AVeeden were appointed to fultill the duties of the said Com- 
mittee till the establishment of a Library Committee. 

\'ice President Allen reported verbally in l)chalf of the 
Committee on the Slate Rock Monument. The report Avas 
accepted and the same Committee, consisting of Messrs. 
Allen, Diman and Walker, was continued. 

The Committee on the Indian Pottery Development re- 
ported progress. 

On motion of Mr. J. P. AValker, it was 

Voted, Thiit the Committee on Publications be antliorizod to have 
printed five luindred copies of the Reports of the Society, with tlie Pro- 
ceediniis and Necrolog\' of 1879-80, the expense of the same not to exceed 
one luindred and seventj^-fivc dollars. 

On motion of Mr. J. A. Ilowlaud it was 

Voted, That a tax of three dollars be assessed on each resident member 
to defray the current expenses of the j'ear. 

Kev. E. M. Stone made a verbal report in regard to cer- 
tain historical documents that are offered to the Society l)y 
Mr. James E. Mauran, of Newport. The Committee con- 
sidered the documents valuable,. and olfered to contribute 
one-quarter of the forty dollars required for their purchase. 

The Secretary tendered his resignation, but the Society 
promptly adjourned Avithout taking action thereon. 

Amos Perky, Sec'y. 



REPORTS OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES 



PUKSENTF.1> TO THE 



ANNUAL MEETING, JANUARY 13, 1880. 



NECROLOGY, 1879-80. 



TREASURER'S REPORTS 



Dr. Bichmond P. Everett, Treasurer, in account with the Rhode Island 
Historical Society. 
1870. 
Jan. H. To cash on hand, . . . . 

Interest from Life Membership Account in Providence 
Institution for Savings, - - - 

Dec. 17. Interest from Life Membership Account in Providence 
Institution for Savings, ... 

1880. 
Jan. 13. Taxes from 163 members at $3, 

Admission fees from 17 members at $5, 
Subscriptions for arranging and worlv in Library 
from members, as follows : — 

Henry J, Steere, - - $50 00 

Henry T. Beckwith, - - 50 00 

William Greene, - - 50 00 

Rowland Hazard, - - - 50 00 

H. Conant, - - - 25 00 



718 


20 


11 


80 


13 


00 


489 


00 


85 


00 



225 00 

For sale of books and pamphlets, - - - 27 85 

Subscriptions for printing Reports of 1878-79, - 36 72 

$1,606 13 

Cr. Richmond P. Everett, Treasurer, in account vnth the Rhode Island 
Historical Society. 
1879. 
Jan. 22. Providence Press Co., for printing Reports of 1877-8, .S243 98 

Amount carried forward, - - - S243 98 

7 



50 RHODE ISLAXD HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

Brought forward, . - . . $243 98 

July 21. Treasurer, for amount advanced by him in 1878, 312 25 

1880. 

Jau. 13. Providence Press Co., for printing Reports, 1878-9, 18G 72 

Printing, advertising meetings, expresses and postages, 1G5 74 

Fuel, gas and janitor, ... - 150 29 

Library Committee, - - - - 95 15 

Building and grounds, - - - - 85 53 

Sewer tax, - ... - lOO 35 

Magazines and books, - - - - 15 60 

Balance on hand, .... 250 52 

.fl,60G 13 
There is on deposit in the Providence Institution 
for Savings, - - - $243 2G 

Treasurer, - - - 7 2G 

$250 52 
RICHMOND P. EVERETT, Treasurer. 
Phovidknce, January iS, 1880. 

■J'lic uiuli'i-signcd liuvi' exaiiiiiied tlie above report, and coiiiiiarcd same with vouchers, 
and tiiid it correct. 

HKXKY T. 15KCKWITH, 
WALTER liLODGET, 
.JOHN P. WALKER, 

Audit Committee. 



LIFE MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT. 

Dr. Bichmond P. Everett, Treasurer, in (recount vjith the Rhode Island 

Historical Society. 
1879. 
Jan. 14. To cash on hand, .... 

Life membership of Samuel G. Arnold, 
Interest from Providence Institution for Savings, 
.July 8. Life membership of Amos D. Lockwood, 

16. Interest from Providence Institution for Savings, 
Oct. IG. Life membership of Royal Woodward, of Albany, N. Y., 

1880. 
Jau. 7. Life membership of Charles Gorton, 



$•599 


82 


50 


00 


11 


98 


50 


00 


13 


00 


50 00 


50 00 


$824 


80 



treasurer's I5EPORT. 51 

Cr. Bichmond P. Everett, Treasurer, in account u'ith the Rhode Island 
Historical Society. 

1879. 
March 2G. Interest from Providence Institution for Savings, -sll 80 

Dec. 27. " " " " " " 13 00 

1880. 
Jan. 13. Balance on hand, - - - - 800 00 

$824 80 
There is on deposit in tlie Providence Institution 
for Savings, - - - $800 00 

RICHMOND P. EYEKETT, Treasurer. 
PuoviDEN'CK, January 13, 1880. 

The undersigned have exaniined tlie above report, and compared it with the vouchers, 
and find tlie same correct. 

HENRY T. BECKVVITH, 
WALTER BLODGET, 
JOHN P. WALKER, 

AiuUt Committee. 



REPORT OF THE NORTHERN DEPARTMENT 



khodp: island historical society 



This tifty-eiiihlh annual meeting tinds the Khoiie Ishmd Historical Soci- 
ety in a healthful condition. Its various coniniittees have been prompt in 
the discharge of their respective duties. The Librarian, besides answer- 
ing" numerous letters of inquiry addressed to him from various parts of 
the country, and aiding inquiries of a local character, has devoted much 
time to soliciting and obtaining contributions to its collections Under 
the direction of a special committee, Mrs. Rebecca R. Gushing, has con- 
tinued the work of cataloguing the Society's collections and of examin- 
ing our tiles of newspapers for the purpose of ascertaining their defi- 
ciencies. This latter has been completed. Our newspapers are among 
the most valuable of our treasures, affording, as they do, a rich mine of 
facts for the historian, the biographer, and genealogist. 

PAPERS KKAI). 

The papers read before the Society were eleven in number, as follows : 
1879. 

January 28. Hon. Abraham Payne, on The Life and Times of Jonathan 
Edwards. 

February U. Col. John Ward, of New York, on The Siege of Harper's 
Ferry by Stonewall Jackson. 

February 25. Dr. Henry E. Turner, of Newport, on Jeremiah Clarke 
and his descendants. 



REPORT OF NORTHERN DEPARTME^T. 53 

March 11. Jolin Austiu Stevens, E.sq., of New York, on The Frencli in 
Rliode Island. 

May 20. Rev. George E. Ellis, D. D., of Boston, on The Present Indian 
Question with our Government. 

October 10. Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, of Chicago, on The Northern Cam- 
paign of 1777, including the Militar)' Services of General Benedict 
Arnold. 

November 5. General Horatio Rogers, on La Corne St. Luc, the leader 
of Burgo.vne's Indians. 

November 10. Professor J. L. Lincoln, on The Character and Works 
of the Historian Tacitus. 

December 4. Rev. Frederick Denison read by request a Report of the 
Committee on the Angell-Johnston-Indian-Pottery Development. 

December IG. Hon. William D. Brayton, on The Oswego Expedition 
of 1783. 

December 21. William B. VVeedeu, Esq., on The Rise of Person and 
Property. 

CONTUIBUTIOXS. 

The contributions for the year number 3.025. Of these, 2,440 were 
pamphlets; 331 bound volumes of books; 50 unbound volumes of books; 
14 bound and 18 unbound volumes of newspapers ; 48 manuscripts; and 
23 maps, plats and charts. The residue comprise engravings, broadsides, 
hand-bills, single newspapers, cuttings, and articles of virtu. 

Among the books specially noticeable are the valuable scientific works 
issned by the Federal Government, that come to us through the State, 
Treasury, War, Navy and Interior Departments, and the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution. Besides being fine specimens of the printer's art, many of them 
are profusely illustrated with prints as pleasing to the eye as the text is 
instructive to the mind. 

By exchanges and a few purchases a considerable numbt-r of town his- 
tories have been added to our collections. One of our valuable acquisi- 
tions is " The Genealogies and Estates in Charlestown, Mass.," in two 
volumes, — a Mork of immense painstaking. This work, comprising 
eleven hundred and seventy-eight pages, was commenced and advanced 
by Thomas Bellows Wyman, an earnest antiquary, but whose lamented 



54 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

death, in 1878, prevented its completion by his hand. In accorchmce with 
his expres,«ed will, the labor of finishing the work was assigned to Rev. 
Henry H. Edes, to whose indnstry, care and fidelity, every page bears 
honorable testimony. To persons seeking to trace their connections with 
the early settlers of Charlestown these volumes will be found of great 
value. 

One of the latest Genealogies, worthy of special notice, is that of "The 
Whitney Family of Connecticut" and its affiliations, representing the 
descendants of Henry Whitney, 1649 to 1878, by Stephen Whitney Phoenix, 
Esq., of New York. It was completed in 1870, and is comprised in three 
volumes (quarto) of 2,740 pages, being the largest privately printed work 
of the kind ever issued in Europe or America. The edition consists often 
folio and five hundred quarto copies, all for presentation — one of which 
is in the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society. The work is 
worthy of careful inspection by every one interested in the study of gene- 
alogy, for its merits cannot be fully described. Ten years of constant 
labor were devoted to it by Mr. PhoLMiix, and he wrote upwards of four- 
teen thousand letters, to many of which no replies were received — so lit- 
tle interest do some people take in the preservation of family history. 
Several 3'ears ago the last revised proofs were returned to the printer with 
the manuscript, and twenty minutes later both the manuscript and the 
text of the whole work were destroyed by fire in the city of New York. 
Phcenix like he recommenced his genealogy on a more extensive scale than 
before, seeking new materials ; and the commendable result achieved is 
the enviable reward of his patient toil and persevering industry. That it 
was a labor of love is obvious from the inscription it bears : " I inscribe 
these volumes to the dear memory of my beloved mother, Mary, daughter 
of Stephen and Harriet Whitney, for whose tender love and devotion I 
owe a debt of more than filial gratitude and reverence." The volumes 
contain particulars of twenty thousand three hundred and sixty one prin- 
cipal persons, whose names are in heavy-faced type, and there arc admir- 
able indexes of places and surnames, which are invaluable.* 

In 1867, a genealogy of The Descendants of John Phoenix, an early set- 
tler of Kittery, Maine, was privately printed by the Bradstreet Press for 
Mr. Phoenix, and he has ready for publication the Genealogy of the Family 
of Alexander Phoenix, the first emigrant, born in England in 1643. 

*Next to the Whitney Genealogy in point of magnitude is that of the Taylor Family of 
England. 



REPORT OF NORTHERN DEPARTMENT. 55 

Mr. Pliu'iiix lias also <rivcii niucli personal atteiitiou to the neglected 
portraits of American worthies in Old New York, many of which he has 
had engraved, from time to time, and distributed to friends. The Records 
of the Reformed (Dutch) Church since 10:39, and of the First Tresbyterian 
Church in New York, have been carefully copied and are being printed in 
the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, solely at his re- 
quest, by which many persons will be enabled hereafter to trace their 
ancestors and write up their genealogies. 

From Samuel Duuster, Esq., of South Attleboro', Mass., we have 
received the "Genealogy of the Dunster Family," a work of thorough 
research, and an important contribution to that department of litera- 
ture. 

To Joseph J. Cooke, Esq., of Providence, we are indebted for a copy of 
the '• Genealogy of the Russell Family," edited by Hon. John R. Bartlett. 
Besides a full account of the Russells, and collateral branches of the fam- 
ily, and of the Drowne family, prepared by Henry T. Drowue, Esq., of 
New York, the value of the volume is enhanced by a comprehensive notice, 
written by Albert R. Cooke, Esq., of Governor Nicholas Cooke, one of the 
eminent Rhode Island patriots of the Revolution, whose life and services 
deserve commemoration in an independent biography. Mr. Bartlett 
brought to his work the spirit of a true genealogist, and has completed 
his task with commendable skill. 

Another work of this class which we are glad to have on our shelves, is 
the " Genealogy of the Tilley Family," compiled by Mr. R. Haramitt Tilley, 
of Newport. In this brochure of seventy-nine pages, Mr. Tilley lias 
brought together the results of extensive investigation, and deservedly 
takes rank with writers of this class. Mr. Tilley is still pursuing his 
investigations, with a view to issuing a second and more complete edition 
of his family record. 

Claudius B. Farnsworth, Esq., of Pawtucket, R. I., has thoughtfully 
placed in our library, " Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground in Groton, 
Mass.," with Notes and Appendix; a handsomely printed volume of two 
hundred and seventy-one pages, prepared by Samuel A. Green, M. D., 
with his well known accuracy, making a valuable contribution to mortu- 
ary literature. 

Still another genealogical work of importance, presented to our Society 
by its author, Mr. Charles Henry James Douglas, is "A Collection of 
Family Records with Biographical Sketches and other Memoranda of 



56 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Families and Individuals bearing the name of Douglas." This volume of 
five hundred and sixt3'-three pages contains the Douglas Coat of Arms 
and twelve portraits. The work was pursued and completed while the 
author was a student in Brown University, at which he was graduated in 
1879. 

From the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain, has been received 
Volume VIII. of its Transactions, recently published, edited by its learned 
Secretary, Rev. Charles Rogers, LL. D. It consists of sixteen independ- 
ent papers, among them Notes on the Study of History, by the Editor; 
Domestic Ever}^ Da}' Life, Manners and Customs in England from the 
earliest periotl to the end of the eighteenth century, etc. ; Early Laws and 
Customs in Great Britain Regarding Food; Alexander in Afghanistan; 
and much other matter interesting alike to the antiquary and to the popu- 
lar reader. The work is a valuable acquisition to any library. 

The learned Societies with which we are in correspondence, at home 
and abroad, have continued, as heretofore, their acceptable contributions 
to our collections, while a number of individuals, like Dr. Samuel A. 
Green, of Boston, and Henry Thayer Di'owne, Esq., of New York, have 
not failed to show a substantial interest in the objects of our Society. To 
the Smithsonian Institution we arc still under obligations for courtesies 
in facilitating foreign exchanges, as we also are for its valued publica- 
tions. To the National Bureau of Education, to General A. A. Hum- 
phreys, Hon. John Jay Knox, and to the Departments of State, of the 
Treasury, of the Interior, of the Navy, and of War, thanks are due and 
tendered, for valuable publications issued from the government press. 

A silver watch presented to the Society by Mrs. Louisa Lippitt Herlitz, 
worn by her husband, the late Captain Joseph Herlitz, when the vessel he 
commanded (the ship Ganges) was, by the force of the terrific gale of 
September 22d and 23d, 1815, wrecked against the Washington Building, 
io this city, is an interesting souvenir of an event which raised the tide 
more than seven feet higher than ever before known, submerged a large 
portion of the business part of the town, cai'ried away the great bridge, 
drove between thirty and forty vessels into the cove, spread devastation 
in every direction, and forced the ocean spray forty miles into the country. 
Captain Herlitz was an enterprising ship master, highly esteemed, and the 
watch here named, made by Richard Farrell, of Dublin, Ireland, was a 
gift to him from the owners of the vessel of which he was in command, as 
a token of their contideuce and respect. He died in Providence, Decern- 



EEPOP.T OF XOKTIIEHN DErARTJIENT. 57 

bor 20th, 1819, in the thiity-tifth year of his age, and was buried witli 
Masonic honors. 

A reminder of the building of Washington Bridge has been added to 
our collections in the form of a marble tablet, bearing the following 
inscription : 

WASHINGTOX BRIDGE. 

Built by 

Joiix Bhowx, Esq. 1793. 

This Monument is erected by the Founder and Proprietor 

of India Point, As a Testimony of High 

Kespect for the 
Great & Illustrious Wasiiixgtox. 
The monument here mentioned, of the base of which the tablet was a part, 
was a life-size statue of AVashington, carved in wood, by John Bowers, of 
Providence, and erected at the west end of the bridge. It was swept 
away and lost in the great September gale already spoken of. The build- 
ing of this bridge was connected in the mind of Mr. Brown with the ex- 
tension of his commercial pursuits. He was a man of great enterprise, 
and at this time a leading merchant, having twenty sail of ships engaged 
in commerce. He took a prominent part in the affairs of town and State, 
thuing the Revolution, was one of the celebrated company which, in 1772, 
burned the Gaspee, as the first outbreak of a resistance to the mother 
country in Rhode Island, and in 178+, was chosen to represent his native 
State in Congress, a position to which he was repeatedly re-elected. In 
carrying out his business plans, Mr. Brown filled in about four acres of 
the flats near the western termiiuis of the bridge, and established a wharf 
flush with deep water. He also built a ship of one thousand tons burthen, 
which he named the Washington, the largest vessel, at that tin)e, that had 
ever been built in America, designed for the India trade, — a trade then 
highly lucrative. The cost was .$300,000. Freighted witli a suitable 
cargo, she sailed for China, where, without consulting the owner, and to 
his painful regret, she was sold by the supercargo. Bj' this unexpected 
transaction, Mr. Brown's high hopes were swept away, and commerce at 
India Point dwindled. Mr. Brown was born in Providence, January 27th, 
1730, and died September 20th, 1803, in the si.xty-eighth year of his age. 
On his tomb stone, beneath his name, is inscribed : 

" The enterprising and accomplished Merchant, 

The tried Patriot and wise Legislator, 

The universal Philanthropist and sincere Christian." 



56 



RHODE ISLAND IIISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 



For this interesting relic of eiglity-seven j^ears gone by tlie Society is 
indebted to Mr. Benjamin J. Brown, now in the eigiity-third year of his 



OUR CONTUIBUTOKS. 

Exclnsive of tliirty-six volnnies of history and biograpliy, and nine 
pamphlets, obtained in exchange for dnplicate publications, tiie contribu- 
tions to the Society's collections before enumerated have been received 
from the following societies and individuals : 



Maine Historical Society, 
Massachusetts Historical Society, 
American Antiquarian Society, 
Essex Institute, 
N. E. Historical and Genealogical 

Register, 
Worcester Society of Antiquity, 
Massachusetts State Library, 
Boston Public Library, 
State of Massachusetts, 



American Philosophical Society, 
Delaware Historical Society, 
Chicago Historical Society, 
Congressional Library, Washington, 
Department of State, Washington, 
Department of Engineers, Washing- 
ton, 
Department of War, Washington, 
Department of the Interior, Wash- 
ington, 



New Hampshire Historical Society, Department of Agriculture, Wash- 



Old Colony Historical Society, 
Vermont Historical Society, 
Vermont State Library, 
Connecticut Historical Society, 
New Haven Historical Society, 
Yale College Library, 
New York Historical Society, 
New York American News Co., 
New York Mercantile Library, 
New York State Library, 
Philadelphia Library Co., 
Long Island Historical Society, 
Minnesota Historical Society, 
New Jersey Historical Society, 
Orange (N. J.) New England 

Society, 
Oneida Historical Society, 
Pennsylvania Historical Society, 



ington, 
Department of the Treasury, Wash- 
ington, 
Bureau of Education, Washington, 
Smithsonian Institution, Washing- 
ton, 
Ohio Historical Society, 
Cleveland Historical Society, 
Wisconsin Historical Society, 
R. I. Soldiers and Sailors' Historical 

Society, 
Iowa Histoiical Society, 
Minnesota Historical Society, 
Minnesota Academy of Natural 

Sciences, 
Chicago Historical Society, 
Maryland Historical Society, 
Montana Historical Society, 



REPORT OF NORTHERN DEPARTMENT. 



59 



Virginia Historical Society, 
Southern Historical Society, 
Georgia Historical Society, 
South Carolina Historical Society, 
Kentucky Historical Society, 
Quebec Historical Society, 
Massachusetts Railroad Commis- 
sioners, 
Royal University, Cliristiania, Nor- 
way, 
Koyal Society Northern Antiqua- 
ries, Copenhagen, Denmark, 
Royal Historical Society, London, 
Royal Society Arts and Sciences. 

Lisl)on. Portugal. 
Halifax Historical Societj', 
Institution Etliiiologique, Paris, 
State of Hliode Island, 
City of Providence, 
Rhode Island State Board of Chari- 
ties, 
Rhode Island Medical Society, 
William A. Mowry, Providence, 
Rhode Island Hospital, " 
Hon. John R. Bartlett, " 
Richmond P. Everett, " 
H. M. Coombs & Co., '• 

Albert V. Jenks, 
Joseph J. Cooke, " 

Rt. Rev. Thomas M. Clark, Provi- 
dence, 
Hon. Thomas A. Doyle, Providence, 
Rev. Edwin M. Stone, " 

John S. Ormsbee, " 

James P. Walker, " 

Mrs. J. B. Hoskiiis, " 

Mrs. Louisa Lippitt Herlitz, " 
Samuel Green, " 

Stephen D. Greene, " 



Miss P. Jackson, Providence, 

Albert T. Elliott, 

Frank .M. Bnrrough, " 
Eben E. Thaxter, 

Mrs. John Carter Brown, " 
William Viall, 

Christopher Burr, "' 

Hon. Joshua M. .Addeman, " 

Hon. John H. Stiness, " 

Hon. Amos Perry, '* 

Edwin Barrows, " 

George W. Davis, " 

Mrs. George Riclimond, " 
Sidney S. Rider, 

John A. Howland, " 

George T. Paine, " 

Asa M. Gammell, " 

Mrs. William Earle, " 

Gen. Horatio Rogers, " 

Rev. N. Williams, " 

Charles W. Parsons, M. D., •' 

Henry T. Beckwith, " 

William \. Harris, " 

Rev. Carlton A. Staples, " 
Rev. Samuel II. Webb, 

William E. Brown, " 

Rev. Thomas Laurie, I). D., " 

Rev. Frederic Denison, " 

J. A. & R. A. Reid, " 

Reuben A. Guild, LL. D., " 
J. V. C. Joslin, 

Hon. Samuel G. Arnold, Ports- 
mouth, R. I , 
George C. Mason, Esq., Newport, 
William J. Miller, Esq , Bristol, li. I., 
J. G. Perry, South Kingstown, R. I , 
C. B. Farnsworth, Pawtucket, 
Prof. Joseph Eastman, East Green- 
wich, 



60 



RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



Sam W. Clarke, Warwick, R. I., 
Hon. Marshal P. Wilder, Boston, 

Mass., 
Samuel A. Greeu, M. D., Boston, 

Mass., 
George B. Reed, Boston, Mass., 
Hon. Richard Frothingham, Bos- 
ton, Mass., 
Charles F. Folsom, M. D., Boston, 

Mass., 
Sampson, Davenport & Co., Bos- 
ton, Mass., 
Alexander Williams, Boston, Mass., 
Hon. Alfred Turner, " " 

A. M. Knapp, " " 

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Boston, 

Mass., 
Rev, Robert C. Waterston, Boston, 

Mass., 
Pliineas Bates, Jr., Esq., Boston, 

Mass., 
Houghton & Co , Boston, Mass., 
Rev. P. D. Peet, Clinton, Wisconsin, 
Hon. Charles Deane, Cambridge, 

Mass., 
Rev. Elmer M. Capen, D. 1)., Som- 

erville, Mass., 
James S. Pike, New York, 
Hon. Henry K. Oliver, Salem, 

Mass., 
Iowa Churchmnn, 
Frederick MuUer, Amsterdam, 
Rev. William Hague, I). D., 
Hon. Mark Kimball, Chicago, 
A. S. Gatschet, Washington, 
J. Austin Stevens, New York, 
H. H. Morgan, St. Louis, 
Gen. A. A. Humphreys, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 



Benjamin Perley Poore, Esq , 

Washington. D. C, 
J. A. Farwell, Chicago, HI., 
Lippincott & Co , Philadelphia, 
J. W. Bouton, New York, 
Rev. Arthur C. Stilson, Ottumwa, 

Iowa, 
R. A. Brock, Esq., Richmond, Va., 
Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr., Augusta, 

Ga., 
Col. John Ward, New York, 
J. Fletcher Williams, St. Paul, 

Minn., 
Rev. T. S. Drowne, D. D., Garden 

City, Long Island, N. Y., 
Henry Thayer Drowne, New York, 
Prof. Asa Bird Gardner. West Point, 
Gov. Hartranft, Harrisburg, Pa., 
James B. Angell, LL. D., Ann .\rbor, 

Mich., 
Franklin A. Dexter, Esq., New 

Haven, Ct., 
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., New 

York, 
B. F. Stevens, London, 
Frederick A. Holden, Washington, 
Hon. John J. Knox, " 

Hon. James A. Gartield, " 
Hon. C. C. Patterson, " 

Hon. John Eaton, " 

Hon. Henry B. Anthony, " 
H. W. Howgate, 
Hon. A. E. Burnside, " 

Hon William G. Ledru, " 
Hon. Benjamin T. Eames, '* 
Hon D. M. Key. 
E. Dufosse, Paris. 
Alexander Duncan, Esq., England, 
Anonymous, 



REPORT OF NORTHERN DEPARTMENT. 61 

Editors of Ttiftonian, Somerville, lion. Charles Francis Adams, Cam- 
Mass., bridge, Mass., 

Barnes & Co., New York, George H Greene, Lansing, Mich., 

Henry E. Turner, M. D., Newport, Henry Phillips, Jr., Ph. D., Philadel- 
R. I , phia, 

Benjamin Rhodes, Newport, R. I., Alfred E. Whittaker, San Francisco, 

Ferree & Co , Philadelphia, Cal., 

Rev. James M. Hoppin, D. D., New James S. Pike, 

Haven, Ct., M. D. Gilman, Montpelier, Vt., 

Rev. J. H. Mellish, South Scituate, Samuel A. Duuster, South Attleboro, 
R. I., Mass., 

Mrs. Jane A. Fames, Concord, N. H., William \V, Wheldon, Concord, 

American Unitarian Association, Mass., 

Boston, Mass., George Washington Warren, Boston, 

Frederic W. Lincoln, Boston, Mass. Mass., 

A HUNDRED YEAKS AGO. 

The year just closed and the year upon which we have now entered fur- 
nish striking contrasts in the condition of Rhode Island to-day with its 
condition a century ago. Then, the population of the State numbered not 
more than 52,000;* now, assuming that the increase from 1875 to 1880 
has equalled that shown during the period from 1870 to 1875, the popula- 
tion of the State is about 275,000. Then, the population of Providence 
did not exceed 4,000; now, it exhibits over 104,000. Then, our sister 
capital, Newport, numbered about 5,000 souls; now, more than 15,000. 
Then, the State was oppressed with the burthen of war, and in the struggle 
for national life, giving to the country the service of its entire male popu- 
lation between the ages of sixteen and sixty; Newport and Providence 
were occupied as military camps and hospitals, and the entire sea line of 
Rhode Island required constant guarding against the invasion of an enemy 
watching opportunities from its central position at New York; now, the 
arts of peace are smiling upon the people, and filling them with a joyous- 
ness in those da3's of peril unknown, the music of a prosperous industry in 
the various departments of agriculture, commerce, manufactures and me- 
chanic arts is everywhere heard; horse-back mail carrying, and slow-coach 

♦According to the census of 1782 the population of the State was 52,34"; the population 
of Providence was then 4,310; and of Newport, 5,530. 



62 EHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

passenger conveyance have given place to railroad and steamboat transit; 
while education, in its elementary and higher departments, in obedience 
to the demand of a healthful public sentiment, is freely shedding its bless- 
ings upon every one of every class, willing to accept them. Tiien, to visit 
Boston from Providence was a wearisome day's ride; now, tliat visit may 
be made in seventy-five minutes! Then, the people were content to hear 
from foreign lauds once in forty days or three months ; now, we open the 
morning papei-s and read the doings of the previous day in England, con- 
tinental Europe, Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan and China! What still 
greater wonders, in the way of progress, the phonograph, the telephone, 
and other developments of science, have in store for us, it would be vain 
to even conjecture. 

AN KARLY PROCLAMATION-. 

But while a hundred years ago the people of Rhode Island were sorely 
pressed by the calamities of war, they were not uninindl'nl of the justice of 
their cause, nor doubtful of an ultinuite successful result. They believed 
in a superintending Providence as a power that shaped the destinies of 
nations as of individuals, and to whom it was but the prompting of rever- 
ential trust to look for direction in all seasons of trial, and for aid in 
threatening exigencies. It was in this view that Governor William Greene, 
a true son of Rhode Island, and a patriot of the noblest type, issued the 
following proclamation, which is here reproduced as a specimen of the 
spirit by which himself and the leading minds of the State were actuated 
while stimulating the people to persistent resistance of oppression, and 
a vindication of their civil rights. 

Proclamation fur Fast. 

•By His Excellency, William Greexk, Esq., 

Governor, Captain General, and Commander-in-Chief of and over the State 
of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations : 

A PROCLAMATION. 

AVhkrkas the Most Honorable the Congress of the United States of 
America did, on the Eleventh Day of March last, pass the following Re- 
solve, to wit : 

"It having pleased the righteous Governor of the World, for the Pun- 
ishment of our manifold Offences, to permit the Sword of War still to 



HEPOltT OF XOirniERX DEPART-AIENT. 63 

harrass onr Country, it becomes us to endeavor, bj- luimbliug ourselves 
before Iiiiii, and turning from every evil Way, to avert his Auger, and 
obtain his Favor and Blessing: It is therefore hereby recommended to 
the several States, 

"That Wkon'ksday, the 2Gth day of April next, be set apart and observed 
as a day of Fasting, Humimation and Pkayeu, that we may with one 
Heart and one Voice implore the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth to 
remember Mercy in his Judgments; — to make us sincerely penitent for 
our Transgressions;— to prepare us for Deliverance, and to remove the 
Evils with which he has been pleased to visit us; — to bauish Vice and 
Irreligion from among us, and establish Virtue and Piety by his Divine 
Grace;— to bless all public Councils throughout the United States, giving 
them Wisdom, Firmness and Unanimity, and directing them to the best 
Measures for the public Good; — to bless the Magistrates and People of 
every Hanii, and animate and unite the Hearts of all to promote the Inter- 
est of tiieir Country ; — to bless the public Defence, inspiring all Command- 
ers and Soldiers with Magnanimity and Perseverance, and giving Vigor 
and Success to the Military Operations by Sea and Land; — to bless the 
illustrious Sovereign ami the Nation in Alliance with these States, and all 
who interest themselves in the Support of our Rights and Liberties;— to 
make that Alliance of perpetual and extensive Usefulness to those imme- 
diately concerned, and Mankind in general; to grant fruitful Seasons and 
to bless our Industry, Trade and Manufactures; — to bless all Schools and 
Seminaries of Learning, and every Means of Instruction and Education ; 
to cause Wars to cease, and to establish Peace among the Nations. 

"And it is further recommended that servile Labor and Recreation be 
forbidden on said Day." 

And whereas the Council of War appointed to act in the Recess of the 
General Assembly of the State, taking the aforesaid Resolves into consid- 
eration, did on tills Day request me to issue a Proclamation to make 
known tiie same, and recommending tiie said Day to be oT)served accord- 
ingly ; and that all servile Labor and Recreation be abstained from thereon : 
I have therefore thought fit to issue this Proclamation, to make known the 
same, and do hereby recommend it to all the Inhabitants of this State to 
observe the said Day as a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Pra3'er, accord- 
ing to the Intent of said Resolve; and to abstain from all servile Labor 
and Recreation on that Day. 

Given under my Hand and the Seal of the said State, this Eighth Day 
of April, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and 
Eighty, and in the Fourth Year of Independence. 

William Gueexe. 
By His Excellency's Command 

Henky Ward, Sec'ry. 

God save the United States of America. 



64 EHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 



INDErEXDENCE IN PROVIDENCE. 

Tracing the path of time backward for a little more than half a centuiy 
we come upon the rtrst commemoration, in Providence, of American Inde- 
pendence. It was a season of universal exultation, and joy found expres- 
sion in every class of citizens. How could it be otherwise in the home of 
Stephen Hopkins, Nicholas Cooke, Arthur Tenner, Theodore Foster, 
Simeon Thayer, Solomon Drovvne, Jeremiah Olnej^ the Browns, the 
Nightingales, the Bowens, Cyprian Sterry, Joseph Russell, John Mathew- 
son, Silas Downer, Ambrose Page, and others of that ilk? 

The Declaration of Independence was received iu Providence from Con- 
gress ou Friday, July 12th, and published in the Providence Gazette the 
following day. Thursday, the 2oth of July, was chosen for giving vent to 
popular feeling. In the meantime the necessary preparations were made, 
and at eleven o'clock on the morning of that day Governor Cooke, 
attended by such members of both Houses of Assembly as were in town, 
together with a number of prominent citizens, wont in procession to the 
State House, escorted by the Cadets and Light Infantry companies, where, 
at twelve o'clock, was read the Act of Assembly concurring with the Gen- 
eral Congress in their Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was 
also read by George Brown, then upwards of eighty years old. He was 
selected on account of the compass of his voice, and so firm and clear 
was his utterance that he was distinctly heard on North Main street.* At 
the conclusion of the reading thirteen volleys were fired by the Cadets 
and Light Infantry; the Artillery company next fired thirteen cannon, and 
a like number of new cannon (cast at Hope Furnace) was discharged at 
the great bridge. The ships Alfred and Columbus likewise fired thirteen 
guns each, iu honor of the day. At two o'clock the Governor, attended 
and escorted as above, proceeded to Hacker's Hall,Avhere an elegant enter- 
tainment was provided on the occasion. After dinner the following toasts 
were drunk, viz. : 

1. The Thirteen Free and Independent States of America. 

2. The Most Honorable General Congress. 

3. The Army and Navy of the United States. 

4. The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

*Mr. Brown was an Englishman, distinguished for benevolence, wit and integrity. He 
died in East Greenwich in March, 1783, and was interred in Providence. 



EEPOKT OF XOKTIIEIJN DEPAHTMENT. 65 

5. The Commerce of the United States. 

6. Liberty, to those wiio have Spirit to assert it. 

7. Tile Friends of tlie United States in every I'art of tlie Eartli. 
8 General Wasliington. 

0. Tlie Officers of the American Army and Navy. 

10. May the Crowns of Tyrants be Crowns of Thorns. 

11. The Memory of the Brave Officers and Men ^vho have fallen in 

Defence of American Liberty. 

12. A[ay the Const itntion of each separate State have for its Object 

the Proervation of the Civil and Keligious Rights of Man- 
kind. 
1.3. May the Union of the States be established in Justice and 
]\Intual Confidence and be as Permanent as tlie Pillars of 
Nature. 

The .Vrtillery and a number of other gentlemen dined the same day at 
Lindsey's Tavern, when the following toasts were drunk : 

1. The Free and Independent States of America. 

2. The General Congress of the American States. 

3. The Honoral)le John Hancock, Esrj. 

4. His Excellency General Washington. 

5. His Excellency General Lee. 
fi. The Brave Carolinians. 

7. Success to General Gates and the Northern Army. 

8. May the subtility of the American standard destroy the ferocity 

of the British Lion. 

9. The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 

10. The Honorable Governor Cooke. 

11. May the Independent States of America forever bean Asylum 

for Liberty. 

12. The American .\rniy and Navy. 

18. The Providence Independent Companies. 

" The al)ove," says a recorder of the event, " was conducted with great 
order and decency, and tlie Declaration received with every mark of 
applause. Towards evening the King of Great Britain's Coat of Arm.« 
was taken from a late Public Office, as was also the sign from the Crown 
Cort'ee-House, and burnt." 

Thus closed the first celebration in Providence of our nation's birth. 
9 



(j() EIIODE ISLAM) IIISTOUICAL SOCIETY. 

Of the celebration held July 4th, 1778, the Providence Oazclle of July 
nth, gives the following descriptiou : 

" Saturday last being the Anniversary of Anierican Independence, 
whereby these United States through their Delegates in Congress, unani- 
mously and forever renounced the sanguinary Tyrant of Britain, and 
wisely assumed to themselves a Name that is acknowledged among the 
Nations, the Day was celebrated here in a Manner suitable to the great 
and happy Occasion. At one o'clock Thirteen Cannon were discharged 
from the Fort on Fox Point; at Four the Forts at Pawtuxet, Field's, Ket- 
tle and Fox Points, and the ship Defence, were manned, when an irregular 
Fire of Cannon and Musquetry commenced, which continued near an 
Hour, and aflorded a just and lively Representation of a General Action. 
The Honorable Major General Sui.i.ivax with his Suite, accompanied Ijy 
a number of Ladies and Gentlemen of the Town, went on board the De- 
fence where they had a prospect of the whole Exhibition. At Sunset the 
Regiments stationed for Defence of the Town were drawn np in the rear 
of the Redoubts, and fired a Feu-de-joi, which did great Honor to the 
Director and the troops, as it was allowed by Judges to be the best Per- 
formance of the Kind they had ever heard. The vast Concourse of People 
that covered the Hills, and the loud and repeated Acclamations of Joy, 
greatly contributed to the Grandeur of the Scenes. In the Evening a num- 
ber of Military Gentlemen and principal Iidiabitants, assembled at Gene- 
ral Sullivan's Head Quarters, and concluded the Celebration of the Anni- 
versary with the following Toasts : 

1. The ever memorable Fourth of July, 177G. 

2. The United States of America 

3. The Continental Congress. 

4. Our Magnanimous Friend and Ally the King of France. 

5. .\11 the Friendly European Powers. 

C. The .American Plenipotentiaries at Foreign Courts. 

7. General Washington and the American Army. 

S. The .\n)erican Navy. 

9. The Governor and State of lihode Island. 

10. Protection to the State of Rhode Island, and Health to the Mili- 

tary Commanders. 

11. A total overthrow to the Enemies of America. 

12. May the Sons of Lil)erty enjoy Freedom in every part of the 

Globe. 
13. May the Blossoms of Freedom never be blasted in America." 

July 4, 1779. The daj' was commemorated " with demonstrations of joy 
suited to the happy occasion." Salutes were fired at the several Posts, 
an elegant entertainment was provided atX^old Spring, attended by Major- 
Geueral Gates, Brigadier-Geueral Glover, with several other gentlemen of 
the army and of the town, together with a number of ladies, and at which 



REPOlfT OF NOIITIIEKX DEPAKTMENT. 



(57 



tliirfeeii patriotic toasts wore drunk, not fcjrgettinij; Lonis XVI., Generals 
Lincoln and Moultrie, the ofliccrs and soldiers who had ilied in defence of 
America, the United States, Con'^ress, and the Governor and State of 
Khode Island. 

A COMMKMOH.VriON SONG. 



While the patriots of Providence were engaged as above descril)ed at 
Cold Spring, a company of Americans, no less patriotic, were similarlj' 
engaged in Amsterdam, Holland. For that occasion the following song 
was written by a Dutch lady residing at the Hague. It is here reproduced, 
not for its poetic merit, but as an expression of tlie spirit which fired 
many sympathetic hearts in that city of Bankers, at a period when a 
dark cloud hung over the prospects of Freedom in our land. The tune to 
which it was sung is not mentioned : 



1. God save tlie tliirtecn .States! 
Long rule the United .States! 

God save the .States! 
Make us victorious, 
Happy and glorious. 
No tyrants over us ; 

God save the States ! 

2. Oft did America 
Forsee with sad dismay. 

Her slav'ry near : 
Oft did her grievance state, 
IJut IJritiiiu falsely great. 
Urging her desp'rate fate, 

Turn'd a deaf ear. 

3. Now the proud British foe 
We've made, by vict'ries, know 

Our sacred right : 
Witness at Bunker Hill, 
Where godlike Warren fell, 
Happy his blood to spill 

In gallant tight. 

■i. To our faifi'd Washington, 
Brave Stak k, at ISennington, 

Glory is due : 
Peace to Moxtgom'uv'S shade, 
Who, as he fought and bled, 
Drew honors round his head, 

Num'rous as true. 

5. Look at .Sar'toga's plain. 
Our captains on the main, 

Moui/nUK's defence : 
Our catalogue is long, 
< »ur heros yet unsung. 
Who noble deeds have done, 

For independence. 



0. The melting mother's moans. 
The aged father's groans, 
Have steel'd our arms : 
Ye British Wliigs beware! 
Your chains near formed are. 
In spite of Kichniond's care 
To sound alarms. 

~. Come join your hands in ours; 
No royal blocks, nor tow'rs; 

God save us all ! 
Thus in our country's cause. 
And to support our laws. 
Our swords shall never pause 
At freedom's call. 

8. We'll fear no tyrant's nod, 
Nor stern oppression's rod. 

Till time 's no more : 
Thus liberty when driv'n 
From Kurope's States, is giv'n 
A safe retreat and hav'n. 

On our free shore. 

',». O, Lord! thy gifts in store. 
We pray on Conohkss power, 

To guide our States. 
May union bless our la>id, 
While we, with heart and hand. 
Our mutual rights defend. 

God save our Slates ! 

10. God save the Thirteen States! 
Long watc)! the prosp'rous fates 

Over our .states I 
Make us victorious, 
Happy and glorimis; 
No tyrants over us ; 

God save our States! 



08 KHODE ISLAND HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

In 1780 the day was quietly noted in Providence. A salnte was fired at 
ten o'clock on the State House Parade by the Continental Post of Artil- 
lery, and also by an armed vessel in the harbor. At Newport, '• His Most 
Christian Majesty's Frigate Hermoine, commanded by the Chevalier de la 
Tonche was ornamented with a variety of colors, and fired three salutes, 
viz., at morning, at noon, and in the evening " 

For the next five years salutes and Parades of the United Train of 
Artillery appear to have been the sum of public observances. In 1787 the 
IJhode Island Society of the Cincinnati celebrated the day, and dined at 
Mice's Tavern In 1788 the town assumed the patriotic duty, and invited 
Kev. Enos Hitchcock, D.l)., pastor of the First Congregational Church, 
to deliver an Oration. A military and civic street procession was a part 
of the display. Dr. Hitchcock's Oration (the first on such an occasion in 
Providence, and l)y request printed,) was replete wilii patriotic sentiment. 
He began by saying : 

"To felicitate Americans on the anniversary of their Independence is a 
dictate of philanthropy. To echo among my fellow-citizens in grateful 
acclamations, the accession of a freed federal government, is but tlie nat- 
ural ett'nsion of a heart elate with joy. To sacrifice at tiie slirine of lib- 
erty 'the fat of fed beasts,' and pour out the generous liI)atiou, if con- 
ducted with prudence, may njt ))e unsuitable expressions of the pleasure 
we this day experience. 

'• But a nobler employment awaits us. We ascend from gratulalLons 
and amusements to contemplate, in the temi)le of lil)erty, the various beau- 
ties of the edifice, to recount the multifarious blessings she proflers our 
favored land " 

After a wide survey of the ri.se and progress of freedom, "the liappy 
eft'ects of the American Kevolntion" upon lands "far l)cyond the bounds 
of America," and the advantage it has already brought to the new nation, 
he closes as follows : 

" We have little now to fear from our enemies, but every thing to iiope 
from the situation, extent and resources of our country, and from the 
enterprising spirit of its inhabitants. Under the smiles of approving 
heaven may they proceed and prosper in every useful art — increasing in 
knowledge and virtue, until they become as conspicuous for the purity of 
their morals as for the equality and perfection of their government.' 

•• May no one, this day, prove himself unworthy the freedom he enjoys, 
by a conduct inconsistent with the purest pleasures, — by anything unbe- 
coming him as a man, as a Christian I May temperance, sobriety and 



REPORT OF NOHTIIEIJX DEPARTMENT. 69 

(Iccoruin preside over all our joys, and he our constant attendants 
throuffh the various walks of life. Then may we look forward witli hope 
and joy, through all the variations of imperfect government, and the 
struggles of the contending passions of man, to a state of more perfect 
society,— to that grand community where 'universal love smiles on all 
around.' " 

.\ skmi-centi;nni.\l. 

Advancing fifty joars from the day of our Nation's birth, we reach 1826, 
and find ihe fire of freedom burning with undiminished glow. It was a 
semi-centennial year, and "Independence Day," — made specially memo- 
rable throughout the land by the deaths nearly simultaneously of two of 
the distinguished patriots and founders of our Republic, John Adams and 
Thomas JeflTerson, — was observed in Providence with martial and civic 
pomp worthy the descendants of a people "born to be free." The Com- 
mittee of Arrangements were Rhodes G. Allen Josiah Whittaker and 
Nehemiah S. Draper, who discharged their duties with excellent judg- 
ment. The day was ushered in with the ringing of bells, and the firing of 
national salutes from Christian Hill, Jefferson Plain, and Fox Point. The 
great events of the day were the public procession, and the services held 
in the First Congregational Church At about eleven o'clock the proces- 
sion was formed on Market square, under the direction of Captain Stephen 
K. Rathbone, Chief Marshal, and Messrs. George C. Hale, Allen 0. Peck, 
William H. Rodman, Samuel W.Wheeler, and Edward R. Young, Assistants. 

The procession numbered more than one thousand persons, and 
extended from Market square to the Theatre, the present site of Grace 
Church. As it moved through several of the principal streets the scene 
was brilliant and exhilarating. First came the military escort, consisting 
of six companies, viz : The United Train of Artillery, Colonel Hodges; 
the Independent Volunteers, Lieut. -Colonel Babcock; the First Light 
Infantry, Captain John J. Stimsou ; the Second Light Infantry, Captain 
Townsend; the Independent Cadets, Lieut.-Colonel Greene; and the P"ay- 
ette Rifle Corps of Pavvtucket, Captain Jacobs. Following the escort 
were the Committee of Arrangements, Governor Cooke and suite, pre- 
ceded by the High Sheriff; Orator of the day and officiating clergyman ; 
past orators of the anniversary; clergymen of the town; Town Council, 
and other town officers ; members of the Rhode Island Society of the Cin- 
cinnati ; United States and State officers, naval, military and civil; for- 



70 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

eigu officials; officers and corporation of Brown University; Mechanics 
Association; Marine Societj'; Domestic Industry Society, and various 
other associations ; School Committee and pupils of the public and pri- 
vate schools (upwards of three hundred) with their teachers; strangers, 
and citizens. 

In the midst of this procession appeared one hundred and six veterans 
of the Revolution, among them a drummer beating the drum once used by 
him on the field of battle. This remnant of men to whom strokes for 
freedom at Bunker Hill, Harlem Heights, Trenton, Monmouth, Princeton, 
Rhode Island and Yorktown, had been familiar, was led by Captain .Aaron 
Mann, who for gallant conduct in the retreat from Rhode Island, received 
promotion from General Sullivan. But to the concourse of citizens 
thronging the streets a special attraction was an elegant barouche in which 
rode the four survivors of the Gaspee exploit in 1772, viz. : Colonel 
Ephraim Bowen, Colonel John Mawney, Captain Benjamin Rage, and Cap- 
tain Turpin Smith. The barouche was drawn by four white horses, 
driven by Mr. Horatio Blake, landlord of the Franklin House, who volun- 
teered the service. Over the heads of these venerable patriots waved a 
splendid silk banner, designed and painted for the occasion by Mr. Sam- 
uel J. Bovver, of Providence, whose pencil exhibited the skill of an 
accomplished artist. Within wreaths and appropriate devices, bearing 
the names of the survivors, the ' G.\si'i:k," and the date 1772, ai)pears a 
representation of the ill fated vessel in flames, with a boat containing a 
number of the daring assailants rowing from the burning wreck. On the 
reverse are the Arms of Rhode Island, with the legend " July 4, 1770. In 
God we Hope. For Liberty and Independence. July 4, 182<! " In the 
right hand corner of the obverse picture is the record by the artist: 
"Presented to the Committee of Arrangements by Samuel J. Bower, 
Piuxt."* After the celebration the Committee presented it to the Rhode 

*SaimielJ. Bower, son of John and Honor Uower, was born in I'rovidence. Prior to 
and after the great September gale in 1815, he kept a dry goods store on Clieapside, North 
Main street. On the memorable day, when the flood had swept away the bridge connect- 
ing the east and west sides of the river, he was enabled to reach liis home on Tine street 
only by passing up round tlie north side of tlie Cove and swimming across a narrower por- 
tion of the angry stream. Mr. Bower's father w as distinguislied as a carver in wood, being 
considered one of the most expert in his profession in tlie country. The "Turk's Head," 
which for many years looked down with becoming gravity upon passers by from its eleva- 
tion on Whitman's Block, at the junction of Westminster and VVcybosset streets, and which 
was subsequently removed and carried to the South or West, and the statue of Washing- 
ton, mentioned on page 57, were specimens of his handiwork. 



KEPOllT OF NOirrilEKN DEPARTMENT. 71 

Island Historical Society. Fifty-four years have passed since it was used 
for a comnieniorative purpose. May it long be preserved in its present 
position to remind the beholder of the price paid for the blessings now 
enjoyed by fifty millions of freemen.* 

At the church, which was thronged, the devotional exercises were con- 
ducted by the pastor. Kev. Henry Edes, D.D., who also read the Declara- 
tion of Independence. The orator was the Hon. William Hunter, of New- 
port; poets, Joseph L. Tillinghast, Esq., and the late President of the 
Historical Society, Hon. Albert Gorton Greene. Both of them wrote 
Odes for the occasion, which were effectively rendered by the Psallonian 
Society, Oliver Shaw presiding at the organ. The ode by Mr. Tillinghast 
was sung to an original tune composed by Mr. Shaw. The ode by Judge 
Greene, given below, was sung to the tune, «• Sony of Miriam" 

ODK. 
BY ALBKKT G. GKKENK, ESQ. 

Joy ! joy ! for free millions now welcome the morn. 
And hallow the day when a nation was born. 
Let one song from her hills and her valleys arise, 
One loud peal of triumph ascend to the skies. 

Samuel evidently inherited from his father an .-esthetic taste, and retiring from the busi- 
ness ill which he was engaged on Cheapside, set up sign painting, a business in which he 
became particularly expert. His ornamental designs were always appropriate and attrac- 
tive. Besides the banner above mentioned Mr. Bower painted many others for military com- 
panies. Among them was one for the Providence First Light Infantry, presented to that 
popular corps by the students of Brown University in acknowledgment of escort duty per- 
formed for them by the company on Commencement day. He painted another — then con- 
sidered the handsomest ever unfurled — (or a military company in New Orleans. The cost 
was upwards of four hundred dollars. 

Mr. Bower entered tlie army in the Wiir of islL', and is understood to have held a subor- 
dinate command. He was on his way to New Orleans at the time of the battle there. He 
subsequently marched to Georgia, where he obtained some experience in skirmishing with 
tlie Indians. After leaving the army he went South and spent some time in Milledgeville 
and Savannah. Returning to Providence, he engaged anew in his business, which lie pur- 
sued at different times on Market square, Weybosset street, and in the Hamilton and 
Dyer's buildings on Westminster street. The latter he occupied until his death, wliich 
occurred March 7th, l.SfiO, at the age of sixty-three years. Mr. Bower was highly respected; 
in the community for his moral and social worth. 

♦Another feature of the procession, which attracted attention, was a long timber car- 
riage, upon which rode a large number of blacks who had served in the war of the KevoluT 
tion, and had won for themselves an honorable distinction. 



72 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

■ Let each heart and each voice join the grateftil employ, 
And the temples of Gon be made vocal with joj', 
While the j'oung and the aged, the brave and the fair. 
Are thronging to mingle in praise and in prayer. 
For those blessings which once on the field and the wave, 
"Were purchased with blood from the hearts of the brave, 
Oh, how should the soul of the freeman expand, 
To the time-honored Remnant ov Libekiy's Band : 
And ye who stood foremost for freedom and right 
Through your country's dark hour in the van of the fight, 
Flow rich the reward which your sons have decreed 
To your dauntless devotion of spirit and deed. 
Your path that n-mains shall with garlands be strewed. 
And by hands yet unborn shall the wreaths be renewed ! 
We have sworn that the cause which on ocean and field. 
Your bosoms were bared from destruction to shield. 
Through storm and through sunshine, through weul and through 

woe, 
To guard unpolluted, from faction and foe, 
Or, crushed in its ruins, to bravely expire, 
Ere the son shall dishonor the deeds of the sire. 
And think not that when all your bravest and best 
In our couiitry's green bosom forever shall rest. 
That the land which ye l)led to redeem and to save. 
Can forget the proud name and example ye gave : 
Oh no! for a million of swords shall be red, 
Kre the foot of a foe o'er your ashes shall tread. 
Your name will give light to the children of earth. 
When they rise for a deed of true virtue and worth : 
A beacon of glory, which never can die. 
To cheer and to save wMien the spoiler is nigh. 
And the land of your birth ever sacred shall be 
To the Homes to the Altahs, and Gkavks of the Free. 

The oration, which was printed, was in Mr. Hunter's best vein. "It 
was worthy," writes the chronicler of the day, " of the man and the occa- 
sion, of his long established reputation as a scholar, statesman and advo- 
cate at the bar of the first order, and of the high wrought feelings and 
heroic associations of a day, the proudest, perhaps, in the annals of the 
world. For an hour and foft}' minutes the orator made his audience for- 
get every thing but himself and the spirit-stirring themes upon which he 
dwelt with tiie same enthusiasm that he inspired in all who heard him." 

At the conclusion of the exercises in the Church, the procession 
re-formed, marched to the Great Bridge, where it was dismissed, the 
veterans of the Kevolution repairing under escort to Wilder's Hotel, 



REPORT OF NORTHERN DErARTMENT. 73 

where a generous entertainment had been provided for them. The sub- 
scribers to the public dinner and invited guests partook of their repast at 
the Assembly Rooms. Upwards of three hundred persons sat down to 
five tables. Colonel Daniel Lyman, President of the Rhode Island Society 
of the Cincinnati, presided, assisted by Colonels John S. Dexter, Beuja- 
niin Hoppin and Richmond Bullock, Gen. E. Carrington, Honorables John 
Pitman, Caleb Earle and Samuel Eddy, William Wilkinson and John IIow- 
land. Among those present were His Excellency Goveiuior James Fenner 
and staff, the Major-General of the State Military and stall', Hon. Asher 
Robbins, Hon. Elisha R. Potter, Major John Vinton, tiield and staff officers 
of the Second Rhode Island Brigade, and other military gentlemen. 
Tweuty-four regular, and a number of volunteer, toasts were drank, and 
patriotic post-prandlal speeches were made by Joseph L. Tillinghast, Esq., 
and Hon. Asher Robbins. The chronicler already cited, says: " The day 
passed off in the most acceptable manner, and though our streets have 
never witnessed a more brilliant parade, or a greater collection of people, 
there was scarce an instance of intoxication or wrangling that occurred. 
Early in the evening the streets were desei'ted." 

UISTOIUCAL TltACTS. 

The Soldiers and Sailors Historic;il Society, of Providence, have depos- 
ited with this Society, a series o,f tracts, ten in number, published by it, 
elucidating interesting and important events in the War of the Rebellion. 
By the authority of the Society the Treasurer has subscribed for the series 
of Rhode Island Tracts now being published by Mr. Sidne\' S. Rider. 
This insures to us publications that will soon be out of print, and the 
value of which, from their scarcity, will in the future be greatly increased. 

OUK WANTS. 

While we recognize in our collections many important works of his- 
tory, biography and genealogy, we are made painfully conscious of defi- 
ciencies in these several departments. Ther* are many works of a local 
and general character that we ought to possess, which past experience has 
shown we are not likely to receive as donations. A small sum annually 
appropriated for the purchase of such works would gradually supply a 
want constantly felt. 

That the Rhode Island Alcove is deficient in the classes of publications 
above referred to, is no just cause for uufiivorable criticism. It is to be 
10 



74 KHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

borne in mind tliat from tlie organization of tlie Society until some years 
after the erection of tlie Cabinet in which we are now assembled, there 
were but few persons in the State sufficiently interested in the objects of 
an Historical Society to voluntarily aid its work. This general indifler- 
ence rendered it peculiarly difficult to obtain accessions to its collections. 
The Society had no means with which purchases could be made of valu- 
able books and pamphlets even then becoming rare, while many such were 
owned by persons unwilling to part with them for auj' pecuniary or other 
consideration. The work of the successive librarians, Judge Staples, and 
Judge Greene, was gratuitous, as similar labors have continued to be. 
The pecuniary resources of the Society did not warrant opening the Cabi- 
net except at quarterlj^ meetings, and at such other times as papers could 
be procured to be read. Yet with all the drawbacks and discouragements 
early experienced, the Societj% through its officers, did a noble and praise- 
worthy work. Judge Staples, Judge Greene, Dr. Webb, John Ilowland, 
Thomas C. Hartshorn, and others, were indefatigable in their eflbrts to 
secure every description of Rhode Island literature, no less than every 
class of manuscripts that might be helpful in elucidating Khode Island 
history and genealogy. The "Foster Papers," the Moses Brown and 
other papers, numbering more than twenty thousand, were secured. At a 
subsequent period a large portion of them were collated, mounted and 
bound, and thus put in condition to be safely examined and used. The 
invaluable Hies of the Providence Gazette, from its commencement, a 
duplicate set -of which no money could now purchase, were made its 
property, while a number of valuable aboriginal and other relics of early 
times found a place among its treasures. It built for itself this structure, 
a work of many }'ears' struggle, and tlie first Historical Society in the 
country to own a home. Its six volumes of collections, its ten or more 
addresses, its eight annual Proceedings, that have been printed, and its fre- 
quent aid to authors, show that it has not been at anytime supine. Other 
facts equally honorable might be stated, but it is unnecessary. The Soci- 
ety in the past needs no apology. All familiar with its paucity of means 
at the beginning, the slow growth of public sympathy for it, and the diffi- 
culties it has had to encounter at almost every step of its progress, will 
honor it for what it has accomplished, and at this hour rejoice that the 
hope of still better days may be entertained. 

As already intimated we have wants, and not the least of them is an 
addition to this building. Such a building should be suited to the uses of 
a lecture room and picture gallery, as also for the exhibition of treasures 



REPORT OF NORTHERN DEPARTMENT. 75 

which at present cannot be well disphiyed. Had we a room of this kind, 
there is little doubt but valuable paintings would be donated to the Soci- 
ety, or placed on permanent deposit. The subject has long occupied the 
thoughts of many of the actively interested members of our Society. If 
the present may not be considered the most propitious time to move in 
this matter, it is to be hoped that again calling attention to the want may 
be helpful in ultimately securing its supply. 

CONCLUSION. 

Although much has been done to lay open the early history of Rhode 
Island, much remains to be done to give completeness to its details. Not 
only are there in our own State many sources of information not yet ex- 
plored, but l)eyond its borders is to be found material with which to illus- 
trate the personal, social and civil life of our little commonwealth. It is 
said that the Registry of Deeds in the County of Suftblk, Mass., contains 
records of deeds of land in Rhode Island, copies of which ought to be in 
our archives. There are doubtless other papers to be found in Massachu- 
setts, having a bearing upon the history of this State, to which this 
remark applies. The same is true of records and private papers in Con- 
necticut aud New York. To gather up these fragments that nothing be- 
lost, is eminently the work of this So,ciety. Should there be any delay ia- 
inaugurating it? 

During the year now closed I have communicated with nearly three hun- 
dred persons, in this State, soliciting contributions for our Society. The 
results have been gratifying and encouraging. I desire here gratefully to 
thank those who have cordially and promptly responded to my requests. 
My hope is that the year before us will prove no less prosperous than the 
year from which we part. 

Respectfully submitted, 

EDWIN M. STONE, 
Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, Northern Department. 
January 13, 1880. 



REPORT 



PROCURATOR FOR NEWPORT 



Xewpoht, R. I., January 10, 1880. 
7o the ail ode Island Historical Society: 

Duiiii"^ the past j'oar but little, coraparatively, has been clone in Newport 
iu the way of historical research. The Newport Historical Society has 
had but few meetings, but additions have been made to its collections ; 
and through the zeal and energy of its Librarian, Mr. James E. Mauran, 
many documents, which might otherwise have been lost or destroyed, have 
been secured and placed in the archives. The books and papers belonging 
to the Society he has arranged and classified, and he has labored to make 
g'ood the tiles of old colonial newspapers, and imperfect sets of other 
printed matter. 

An effort has been made to secure a series, of biographical sketches of 
distinguished Khode Islanders, and it has so far borne fruit that one vol- 
ume, the " Life and Works of Gilbert Stuart," has been published. This 
field might be worked more profitably. Surely there is material enough 
to write extended lives of men like Theodore Foster, William Vernon, and 
.others whose names are readily recalled in this connection, but whose 
biographies have yet to be written. 

In the library of Yale College there is a Diary, kept by Rev. Ezra Stiles, 
and which extends over the years that he resiiled iu Rhode Island. It is 
full of historical f^icts connected with the Colony, and it is greatly to be 
regretted that it has never been printed ; or, at least, that some person, 
properly qualified, has not been employed to copy, with the sanction and 



IfKrOKT OF I'KOCUHATOlf FOU NEWPORT. 77 

I'pproval of the Trustees of the College, all such passages as are of direct 
interest to the historian. It is five and twenty years since I saw it, but I 
remember that witli the text there are diagrams, drawn witli pen and ink, 
explanatory of some of the skirmishes between the English and the 
Americans. I feel sure that if the historical matter in these pages were 
sifted out the means expended in this way would be well employed. 

I would most respectfully ask that some decided steps be taken by the 
Khode Island Historical Society to push forward the branch of historical 
research to which I have called attention ; that we may secure, at least, 
sketches of men whose names have come down to us, where there is not 
material enough for full biographies. The older citizens of the State, 
men who could furnish information on this and other branches of our his- 
tory, are fast passing away, and if we would gather from them the facts 
with which they are familiar we have no time to lose. 

GEORGE C. MASON, 

Procurator for Nevpoi (. 




REPORT 



PROCURATOR FOR BRISTOL 



BmsTOL, K. I., Jiumary 13, 1880. 
Amos Perry, Secretary R. I. Historical Society, Providence : 

Dkak Sir. — As Procurator for Bristol County, I do not find any mat- 
ter of particular Interest to communicate to the Historical Society at its 
annual meeting to be held this evening. 

At the annual town meeting in this town in April last measures w'ere 
inaugurated for a proper observance of the bi-centennial settlement of the 
town, which occurs in September of the present year. A general commit- 
tee was appointed, who promptly met and organized, and have succeeded 
in raising a sum of money to aid in defraying the expenses of the pro- 
posed celebration. Other steps are being taken to add to this fund, which 
it is hoped will, together with such sum as the town may appropriate, 
be sufficient for the purpose. Professor J. Lewis Diman, of Provi- 
dence, has been invited to make the historical address, and lit. Rev. M. 
D'W. Howe, of Western Pennsylvania, to prepare a poem for the occa- 
sion. It is understood that both gentlemen have favorably responded to 
this call from their native town. As the time approaches it is hoped that 
the interest will correspondingly increase. 

In Warren there has been some talk of erecting a monument to Massa- 
soit, who pledged his faith to the Pilgrims within a few months after their 
landing at Plymouth, and faithfully kept it for more than forty years until 
his death in 1662. When Edward Winslow visited Massasoit, in the sura- 



RErORT OF PROCURATOR FOR BRISTOL. 7!t 

nier of 1021, he fouucl the liittci"'s homo and wigwam on the banks of the 
Sowams river, near a living spring of water, which is now known as 
Massasoit's Spring, at the foot of Baker street in the town of Warren. 
There has been some discussion and difference of views expressed as to 
the most appropriate location for the mouumeiit, but it is to be hoped 
that this will not long delaj' the consummation of this highlj* merito- 
rious project. 

Very respectfully yours, 

WILLIAM J. MILLER. 




REPORT 



committep: ox grounds and building 



The Committee on Grounds and Building- respectfully submit their report 
of expenditures made during the year 1879 : 
Paid Robinson Pierce, for labor and lumber in making additional 

room in the basement for the storage of books, papers, etc., .$31 21 
Paid W. S. Hogg, for care of the grounds, for rolling, cutting 

grass, etc., iucluding ^2\ 60 for work done in 1878, - - 40 57 

Paid for oiling front door, .$1 25 ; painting lamp over the gate, 

82; washing floor, $1.50, - - - - - 4 75 

.$85 53 
For the Committee, 

ISAAC H. SOUTHWICK, 

Chairman. 
PitoviDENXK, January 13, 1880. 



REPORT 



COMMITTEE OX (lENEALOGIC^VL RESEA1U1IES. 



To the Honornhle Rhode Island Historical Society, Jannarij, 18S0: 

The StaiKliiiy,- Committee on Genealogical Researches beg' leave to 
report : 

That, although no very prominent measure has been set on foot by the 
Society itself, we have reason for great enconragement in the zeal with 
which various members are prosecuting enquiries in this department, and 
the very general and rapidly increasing interest in this direction, which 
pervades the public mind, and also from the constantly accumulating pub- 
lications which add materially to our fiiciJities in this interesting and 
important pursuit. 

The Committee beg leave especially to congratulate the members of 
the Societ}' on so momentous a consummation as the publication of the 
Registration of the Town and Citj'^ of Providence, and to express 
their profound sense of the merits of that work, and the obligation 
conferred on the Society and the public by the compiler and publisher 
thereof, and to suggest to the Society that a vote of thanks would be a 
just and well merited tribute to the diligence and public spirit of those 
gentlemen. 

The Committee again beg leave to reiterate the views heretofore e.\- 
prcssed that the, whole people of the State arc ecjually interested in the 
preservation and publication of all the original town and church registra- 
11 



^2 RHODE ISLAND HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

tions aud collateral records bearing upon the subject, and cannot cease to 
urge that everj' method should be used to impress upon the public mind 
that legislative action, to this eud, is legitimate and proper, and by that 
alone can it be thoroughly and successfully prosecuted. 

All which is respectfully submitted by 

HENRY E. TUKNER, 
ZACHAHIAH ALLEN, 
WILLIAM A MOVVRY, 

Committee. 




REPORT 



(U)MMITTEE ON PUBLK ATTONS 



The Committee ou Publications of the Khode Island Historical Society 
beg leave to suggest to the Society the publication of a seventh volume of 
its collections. It is now thirteen years since the publication of volume 
six. The Society was never in a more flourishing condition than at the 
present time; its meetings are frequent and well attended, and an increas- 
ing interest is manifested in the preservation of books and manuscripts 
relating to our early history. 

Among the collections of the Society, hidden from sight, your Commit- 
tee think that papers of value exist which should be printed. They beg 
leave, therefore, on the occasion of the flfty-eighth annual meeting of the 
Society, to call attention to the subject, in order that if deemed practica- 
ble, early steps may be taken for the publication of another volume, the 
seventh of the Society's collections. 

JOHN 11. B.4RTLETT, 

J. LEWIS DIMAN, 

EDWIN M. STONE, 

Commitlee on Publications. 
ri{ovii)KNCK. January 13, 1880. 



REPORT 



CX)M]VIITTEE ON THE STATE APPROPRIATION. 



The Committee on State Appropriation, appointed at the meeting of this 
Society in April last, respectfully report : 

The sum of .§282. 5i dollars has been received from the General Treas- 
urer of the State, in accordance with the appropriation. 

The rooms of the Society have been kept open daily, between the hours 
of ten and one, and of two and five, except during the short days; — the 
Expense of this being .S29.IG5 per month, or at the rate of .$350 a year. 

The books and papers belonging to the State, in keeping of the Society, 
have been marked and catalogued, as required by the statute. 

Some attempts have been made to obtain the records of certain towns, 
for the purpose of copying the same, — without success at present, but 
with better prospects for the future. 

Pamphlet-cases have been bought by the Committee for the use of the 
Society. 

The newspapers belonging to the State, and those belonging to the Soci- 
ety, have been examined and catalogued, and list of numbers wanting has 
been made. 

Respectfully submitted, 

CHAKLES W. PARSONS, 
JOHN H. STINESS, 
GEORGE T. PAINE, 

Committee. 
Pkovidb',nce, January 13, 1880. 



NECROLOGY 



OF THE 



KHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY, 

1879-80. 



William Greene Williams, sou of Mathevvson and Mary (Greene; 
Williams, was born in Johnston, K., I., November 21, 1798, and died at 
his residence on Washington street. Providence, March 16th, 1879, in 
the eightj'-first \ear of his age. He early lost his mother, but received 
the best of care from a step-mother, of whom he always spoke in terms 
of warm affection. 

In 1812 he entered as a clerk in the dry goods business in Providence, and 
in 1819 engaged in business for himself. After successful enterprise for 
thirty-three years he retired from active trade, and devoted the residue of 
his life to historical and genealogical investigations. He Avas particularly 
interested in whatever related to the settlement of Rhode Island, and to 
the lives and experiences of its early settlers. He traced his descent on 
the paternal side thus : Mathevvson, Andrew, Jeremiah, Joseph, Joseph, 
Roger Williams. On the maternal side his register was : Mary Greene, (his 
mother,) daughter of Joshua, Samuel, Samuel, John, John. His grand- 
mother was Mehitable Manton, daughter of John, Edward, Shadrach, 
Edward. He traced his pedigree back to Gorton Coggeshall, and at least a 
half dozen other original settlers. Each of his numerous ancestors he couki 
place in their respective order, from memory, and probably few meu 



Si) RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

living were so familiar as himself with the genealogy and histoiy of the 
numerous original families in the State In his favorite pursuits he vis- 
ited grave yards and various historical sites, and procured records, 
regardless of time and expense. The knowledge he thus acquired was 
cheerfully imparted to others. 

In business relations Mr. Williams was a man of the strictest integ- 
rity, and nothing disturbed him more than to witness in men, or in the 
management of financial institutions, any departure from uprightness. He 
held his word to be as sacred as his bond, and was freely outspoken when 
he discovered in others a departure from this high standard of rectitude. 
It was a pardonable pride with him to be able daily to say, " No man is 
suflering in consequence of any pecuniary dereliction of mine." He lield 
in marked contempt shams of every description, and appreciated with 
corresponding strength of feeling a true sincerity in professions of friend- 
ship. He had long made human character and the hidden springs oC 
action a careful study, and could quickly detect the real from the seeming. 
In congenial circles he found much enjoyment, and often recalled with 
expressions of satisfaction the agreeable people he had met in his summer 
excursions. For many years he was a great sufferer from a disease that 
was slowly but sux'ely sapping the fountain of life. But his will power 
was great, and he endured where many would have sunk. Of the change 
that was gradually approaciiing he was fully aware, and f»»r some years 
l>efore his departure he had been disciplining his mind for the event. 

He became a member of this Society in 1858, took a deep interest in its 
affairs, and for many years served its interests faitlifully as a member of 
the Committee on Bniidiug and Grounds, and as a member of the Com- 
mittee on Non>inations. 



NiCHOL.xs Redwood Easton, sou of Nicholas and Dorcas C. Easton, 
was born iu Providence, and died at his residence. Central Falls, Lincoln, 
March 24th, 1879, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He was of the firm 
of Easton & Burnham, spindle manufacturers. He had been confined to 
the house for several months, but had not been in good health for a num- 
ber of years. He was a member of the Congregational Church in tliis vil- 
lage. For nearly a score of years he has lived and done business in this 
community, and won the respect of all who knew him, as a straight 
forward, upright business man ; one whose word was as good as his bond. 
He was of a quiet yet genial disposition, and we do not believe he had an 



NECROLOGY. 87 

enemy. He will be missed by his family, by relatives and friends, by the 
church of which he was a consistent member, and by the community where 
his life of integrity has been marked and approved. 

The funeral was solemnized from his late residence on Broad street, 
March 27th, at eleven o'clock, v m Kev. J. H. Lyon, of the Congrega- 
tional Church, officiated. The remains were taken to the North End Ceme- 
tery, Providence. — Central Falls Visitor, March 28, 1879. 

Mr. Eastou was elected a member «f this Society in 1878. 



Waltkr Paink, son of Walter and Lydia (Snow) Paine, was born in 
Providence, and died at his residence in this city May Uth, 1879, in the 
seventy-eighth year of his age. Mr. Paine for many years was clerk of 
the Supreme Court in Pfovidence Count}', subsequently entering the 
insurance business, and for the past twenty-eight years he has been offi- 
cially connected with the Merchants Insurance Company. He has repeat- 
edly represented the city in the General Assembly; was two years Justice 
of the Police Court; was member of the Common Council seven years, 
and one year President of that body; and was Alderman for the fourth 
ward in 1858-59. All his public and private trusts were administered with 
fidelity and intelligence, and he leaves the record of a good citizen and 
an honest man. 

About two months preceding his death Mr. Paine was taken with a 
severe attack of some form of paralysis, from which he partially recov- 
ered, and for a week or ten days was again regular in attendance at his 
place of business. Two days before his death he was at the office the last 
time, when he remained for three hours. The next morning, at 6 o'clock, 
he was taken with a second attack, and from that time remained in a tor- 
pid state until the time of his death. Mr. Paine was one of the persons 
named in the charter of the Merchants Insurance Company, and at the 
meeting for organization. May 15th, 1851, was chosen Secretary, which 
position he tilled for sixteen years. In June, 1867, upon the resignation 
of President Coinstock, Mr. Paine was chosen President, and remained so 
up to the time of his death. His terra of service with this company was 
twenty-eight years, lacking one day, and all the time the office was in the 
What Cheer Building, where it was opened before the building was 
rtnished. 

Mr. Paine was married September 23d, 1823, to Miss Sophia F. Taylor, 



88 EHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

who bore him seven children, five of whom, witli his widow, survive. He 
was elected a member of this Societv in 1875. 



Colonel Robkut Guosvexor, son of Dr. William Grosveuor, was 
born in Providence, November 2d. 1847. After completing his prelimi- 
nary studies he entered Norwich University, at Nortlitield, Vermont, where 
he was graduated in June, 1868. In 1876 the degree of A. M. was con- 
ferred upon him by his Alma Mater, and at the time of his death he was 
one of the Trustees of the University. Colonel Grosveuor was trained to 
business in the office of the Grosveuor Dale Company, and discharged 
most usefully and acceptably the duties of his position, giving promise of 
a successful and honorable career as a business man. In 1860 he became 
a member of the Marine Corps of .\rtillery, of which, in 1871, he was 
made Adjutant, in 1872, Second Lieutenant, in, 187:5, .lunior Major, and in 
1874, Lieutenant-Colonel commanding. For this corps, as also for the 
Marine Corps Veteran Association, Colonel Grosveuor cherished a warm 
interest, and did much to promote their welfare. In ,Jnly, 1879, he was 
stricken with typhoid fever, which terminated fatally on the nineteenth of 
that month, causing a deep and painful void in the domestic relations, and 
filling a wide circle of friends with sorrow. Colonel Grosveuor, at his 
decease, was in the thirtj'-second year of his age. In social life he was 
genial, courteous, and in the highest sense of the term a manly num. lie 
left a wife but no children. Immediately on the announcement of his 
death the Marine Corps and Veteran Association met at their armory and 
passed resolutions appreciative of his character, and tendering sympathy 
to his bereaved family. As a husband, son, brother, citizen, friend and 
business associate, he filled the measure of each requirement. The fune- 
ral, which took place Monday noon, July 21st, was numerously attended, 
the Marine Corps of Artillery and the Vtteran Corps being represented. 
-The services at the house, and at the ftimily ground at Swan Point Ceme- 
tery were conducted by Rt. Rev. Bishop Thomas M Clark, D.D , LL.D., 
and Rev. David H. Greer. The casket in which the body reposed was 
covered with flags, and the floral offerings were numel'ous, and were 
arranged with great taste and beauty. 

Colonel Grosvenor was elected a member of this Society in 1872. 



j;olc 

m 



NECROLOGY. 89 

Gkorge Tauiisrox Spicer, a well-knowu and respected stove inerchaiit 
and Alderman of the city of Providence, was born in Hopkinton, R. I., 
Auj^ust 4tli, 1802. His father was a farmer who improved a larj^e tract of 
land, and was also proprietor of the Village Hotel, which, with its host, 
is thus pleasantly described in a diary published nearly fifty years ago : 

" In the village of ' Hopkinton City,' so called, where I stopped several 
months, was an inn, kept by a church member, and now aged landlord, 
Captain Joseph Spicer, a man of the most unbending honesty, whose full 
fare for man and beast, and his ready and urbane attention to the wants of 
the weary traveller, gave him as far as he was known the reputation of ' a 
good host.' But what struck my attention with no little interest was the 
sign in front of the house, suspended from the limb of a noble sycamore. 
At the top was a beautiful eagle, the emblem of our independence, over 
which was a cluster of stars. Directly underneath was seen the anchor, 
emblem of hope. At the base of the picture, in rich gold letters, were 
the words, ' In God we Hope,' the only sure guarantee of individual or 
national safety. With such a hope was America once made free, and 
with it shall always remain so." 

Alderman George T. Spicer was the son of Captain Joseph and Mary 
(Saunders) Spicer, and one of a family of six children. He was early 
trained at home in habits of industry and self reliance, receiving also such 
public instruction as the village school afforded. He was scarcely twenty 
years old when he received a commission from Governor Gibbs as Captain 
of the first company of Hopkinton Volunteers, which he held for several 
years, when, desiring to learn the trade of a machinist, he resigned his 
commission and commenced work at the village of Potter Hill, about four 
miles distant. While here he became a member of the Seventh Day Bap- 
tist Church, for which he always cherished warm interest and affection. 
After learning his trade he removed to Phenix, in the town of Warwick, 
where he remained seven years, having charge of the machine shop a 
part of the time, and discharging his duties with the most exemplary 
industry and fidelity. He was also the first Superintendent of the Sab- 
bath School at Phenix, started about this time (1827). In an article on 
the Hon. Charles Jackson, published in the Providence Journal, January 
24th, 187G, the writer thus pleasantly alludes to the. work which Mr. 
Spicer was then doing : 

" That cheerful, bright, and I was going to say old gentleman, (but he 
is only seventy-three, and never seems to me to be older than forty when 
12 



90 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

I meet him,) our Alderman Spicer, was then a young machinist at work 
for Daniel Gorhara at ' the Phenix.' He was employed by Governor 
Jackson and his brother to make the machinery and looms for their mills. 
He had never seen a power loom, and tells a good story of how he got 
sight of one. It was at the Anthony Mill. While he was busy examining 
it, the overseer came and ordered him out, but he had seen enough to 
enable him to construct one." 

Mr. Spicer was afterwards employed in Providence for a short time at 
the machine shop of Thomas J. Hill, when, in 1830, lie removed to Pon- 
tiac, in the town of Warwick, where he became connected, as superin- 
tendent, with the mills and bleacher^' of John H. Clark, retaining full 
charge till he moved to Providence fifteen years later. He also had cliarge 
at Pontiac, of the school affairs of the district. 

In October, 18o3, Mr. Spicer married Mary Sheldon Arnold, (huighter of 
Horatio and Celia Arnold, and grand-daughter of Judge Dutee Arnold, of 
Warwick, who served the State as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 
from 1817 to 1822. In April, 1845, Mr. Spicer permanently removed, with 
his family to Providence, where he became interested in the manufacture 
of stoves and furnaces. He was Superintendent of the High Street Furnace 
Company for five years. In 18.50, he, with ins brother-in-law. Dutee Arnold, 
and Zelotes W. Ilolden, erected a new stove foundry on Cove street, and 
laid the foundations of the successful business with which he retained an 
undiminished interest up to the time of his death, wliich occurred at his 
summer residence at "Fort Hill," Pawtuxet, August 17th, 1879. We copy 
the following editorial article, concerning his business and oHieial life, 
from the Providence Journal of August 18th, 1879 : 

" George T. Spicer, the head of the house of Spicers & Peckham, a ven- 
erable and mucii-respected citizen, died yesterday morning, after a brief 
illness. Although still engaged in the active labors and duties of life, Mr. 
Spicer had reached his seventy-eighth year. He has continuously repre- 
sented the fourth ward in the Board of Aldermen since 1870, (iiaving pre- 
viously served in the Common Council,) and was twice elected President 
of the Board. Mr. Spicer also represented the city several years in the 
lower house of the General Assembly. He brought to the discharge of his 
public functions broad general information, good ability, the habits of a 
well trained business man, and loyalty to what he believed to be right. 
In business ancF social and domestic life he was greatl}^ respected and 
beloved. Born in Hopkinton at the beginning of tlie century, he was 
familiar with Rhode Island history, tradition and sentiments, and his 



NECROLOGY. 91 

conversation upon past men and 'times abounded in pleasant personal 
reminiscences and nnwritteu political information." 

From the same paper, 21st inst., we quote: 

"The funeral services were conducted by his pastor, the Rev. J. G. 
Vose, D.D., of the Beneficent Congregational Church, who impressively 
dwelt upon the integrity, purity and industry of the departed life, his 
faithfulness and tender affection for his family, and his reverence for relig- 
ion, and constant attendance upon worship." 

We will only add, that during a long life, in eventful times, he main- 
tained a character for independence and honesty, without I)einga partizan, 
and secured that good name which is to be chosen above riches. 

Mr. Spicer was elected a member of this Society in 1878. 



John Oi.dfield, son of William and Mary Oldfield, was born in Brad- 
ford, England, IMarch 0th, 1796. He was one of a large family of chil- 
dren, and early manifested a taste for horticulture. Several years of his 
minority were devoted to perfecting himself in the knowledge and prac- 
tice of scientific gardening. On arriving at his majority, he emigrated to 
this country and located in Philadelphia, where he remained a number of 
years pursuing his profession. From that city he removed to New York, 
and there followed the same occupation for a short time. Thence he 
went to Charleston, S. C, where he spent six months, and in 1824 came 
to Providence, where he at once entered the employ of the late Thomas P. 
Ives as gardener. At the end of four years he engaged in the lumber 
business on his own account, which he prosperously pursued for about 
twenty-five years, when he retired from it, and purchased a farm iu 
Cranston. This lie managed for some time, but the last twenty years of 
his life were devoted to the care of his property and his family, and enjoy- 
ing the society of his friends. His extensive travels made him a pleasant 
and instructive companion. He married Martha Sampson, daughter of 
Earl Sampson, a prominent citizen of Assonet, Mass. His wife, two sons 
and two daughters survive him. Mr. Oldfield had warm sympathies for 
the poor, and his unostentatious charities will be greatly missed by many 
who partook of his bounty. He became a member of this Society in 18G5, 
and was a very constant attendant upon its meetings. He died January 
8th. 1880, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 



92 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Benjamin Gladding Pabodie, sou of William and Henrietta (Glad- 
diug) Pabodie, was born in Providence December 1st, 17^9, and died at 
his home in the same city January 25th, 1880. His ancestor, John Pay- 
body, with three sons and one daughter, emigrated to this country from 
England about 1635. With his youngest son William, (of whom the de- 
ceased was a direct descendant,) he is named among the original proprie- 
tors of Plymouth, Mass., and in 1G45 their names appear among the own- 
ers of Bridgewater. William removed to Duxbury where he owned much 
land and filled many public offices ; he was one of the purchasers of 
Sakonet or Little Compton, and removed thither in 1G84. 

William's wife, Elizabeth, was the third child and eldest daughter of 
John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, whose story is told in Longfellow's 
" Courtship of Miles Standish." 

In the fourth generation, Ephraim, the grandfather of the deceased, 
moved from Little Compton, where the family had flourished for over sixty 
years, to Providence. The remainder of the family, following the law of 
immigration, gradually went westward, until naught but the gravestones 
remain to perpetuate the name in the old town. 

The subject of this sketch attended school at the Academy at Bank Vil- 
lage in Smithlield, kept by David Aldrich. He there met with an accident 
which, after years of confining and painful sickness, resulted, in his sev- 
enteenth year, in the amputation of one of his legs. Upon his recovery, 
he assisted in the business of his father, who for many years carried on 
the manufacture of fur hats, and also had two stores for the sale of those 
and kindred goods, — one on High street, the other on Market Square. 
About 1825 he went into the retail hat and fur business for himself on 
Maiden Lane in New York city, but not meeting with success he soon re- 
turned to Providence, and opened a similar store there. He removed to 
the Arcade, on its completion in 1828, where he remained until 1801, re- 
moving then to No. 39 Westminster Street, and finally retiring from active 
business in 18G3. 

He was a member of the Common Council of Providence from the first 
ward during the years 1851 to 1854, inclusive. 

He was elected to the General Assembly of the State in the spring of 
1866, and served during that and the following year. 

He was Trustee of the Keform School in 1854; and served as Director 
of the Arcade Bank from July, 1833, and after its acceptance of the pro- 
visions of the National Bank Bill and change of its name to Rhode Island 
National Bank, until 1876. 



XECKOLOGV. 93 

He became a member of the Rhode Ishind Historical Society in 1870, 
and a life member in 1874. 

He married February 4th, 1836, Frances Hayward Blackman, who died 
October 1st, 1854, leaving one son who still lives; and November 15th, 
1858, he married Lucy Ballon Taft, who survives him. 



Hon. Samiel Gukenk Arnold, son of Samuel Greene and Frances 
Rogers Arnold, was born on the 12th of April, 1821, in Providence, in the 
house on the corner of South Main and Planet streets, made famous in 
local history as the rendezvous of the band of patriots who there made 
their final arrangements for the capture of the British schooner Gaspee, 
commandtd by Lieutenant William Duddington, and which was accom- 
plished June 9th, 1772. In this assault Lieutenant Duddington was 
wounded, being the first blood shed preliminary to the American Revolu- 
tion. 

In his early boyhood Mr. Arnold attended a school kept by Messrs. 
Crane andlveely. He was afterwards a pupil of Prof. George W. Greene, 
and was subsequently under the instruction of private tutors. From them 
he passed to Dr. Muhlenberg's school at Flushing, Long Island. He 
entered Brown University and graduated in the class of 1841. In 1848 he 
was elected a Trustee of the University, which office he held at the time of 
his decease. He was called to till various offices of responsibility, and as a 
member of the School Committee, as a Trustee of the Butler Hospital, as 
a Trustee of the Reform School, as a member of the Franklin Society, as 
for sixteen years an active member of the Fire Department, and as Presi- 
dent of the Charitable Baptist Society-, he rendered faithful and efficient 
services. 

After leaving the University Mr, Arnold entered the law school at Cam- 
bridge, and at the close of his legal studies received the degree of 
LL.B. While in college, and during a vacation, he travelled in the West, 
where his health became impaired by an attack of yellow fever. For this 
cause he was obliged to leave college and cross the ocean to recruit. He 
went, accompanied by his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Hague, as far east as 
Greece and Constantinople. His next visit to Europe was after gradu- 
ating from college, and, while pursuing mercantile studies, he went as 
supercargo in a vessel to St. Petersburg. In 1845 he went again to 
Europe, and extended his journey through Egypt and the Holy Land. It 
was during this absence that he went to Norway, and was only the second 



94 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

American who had visited the North Cape. lu 1846 he was for the second 
time at Constantinople. In 1847 he crossed from Europe to South Amer- 
ica, where he passed a j'ear in niakinghimself acquainted with the histor.v, 
social life and material resources of that country. Here he formed a 
pleasant acquaintance with many distinguished personages, among them 
Geu. Bartolome Mitre, a historian, poet and publicist, and Don Domingo 
Faustino Sarmiento, afterwards Argentine Minister to the United States, 
and subsequently President of the Republic. In 1865, while on a visit to 
Providence, Don Sarmiento was the gnest of Mr. Arnold, and delivered a 
discourse before the Historical Society on North and South America. 

In 1869 Mr. Arnold went again to England, where he spent several 
months. His various journeys furnished him with materials for several 
interesting and instructive lectures, which were read in this city and else- 
where. Among these was one on "The Pampas of South America;" one 
on " Peru ;" and one describing his " Journey to the North Cape." The 
results of his observations were embodied in an interesting Essay, and in 
1851, published in the N^orth American Review. 

Although Mr. Arnold received the honors of the Cambridge Law School, 
his legal studies were not pursued with a purpose of practising at the 
Bar, but rather to gain knowledge that would be helpful as a mental dis- 
cipline, and promote habits of accuracy in thought. His fondness for lit- 
erary pursuits, especially history, was early developed, and he was led 
thereby to a pursuit that has placed him prominently before the public as 
a historian. In 1853 he delivered a discourse before this Society on " The 
Spirit of Rhode Island History," which foreshadowed the acumen that 
characterizes the two elaborate volumes that followed it in 1850 and 1860, 
viz : the " History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Planta- 
tions," dedicated to the people of the State as a memorial *' of the trials 
and the triumphs of their ancestors." In preparing this work, exhaustive 
examination of public archives, both at home and in London and Paris, 
was made, as well as of all available printed works and private papers, 
leaving little or nothing of vital importance to be gleaned by future histo- 
rians. Seldom has so much of detail been crowded into a State history, 
while its general accuracj- will give it an imperishable place among works 
of a similar character. The other published writings of Mr. Arnold were 
"Memorial Address on Judge Albert G. Greene, Judge William R. Staples 
and Dr. Lusher Parsons; " " Centennial Anniversary of Building the First 
Baptist Meeting-house;" "Centennial History of Portsmouth ; " " Cen- 
tennial Fourth of July Oration before the Municipal authorities and citl- 



XECROLOGY. 95 

zens of Providence;" aiul "Centennial Address Coniineniorativc of the 
Battle of Rhode Island." 

Thrice Mr. Arnold was elected Lieutenant-Governor of this State, — in 
1852, 180 1 and 18G2. In the last named j'ear he was chosen by the Gen- 
eral Assembly Senator to Congress, to fill out the unexpired term of Hon. 
James F. Simmons, the duties of which office he discharged with uncom- 
promising fidelity to the Union. 

When, in 1861, the assault upon Fort Sumpter, indicated but too plainly 
the disturbed condition of the country, Lieut. -Gov. Arnold offered his 
services to Governor Sprague, who placed him upon his staft" with the 
rank of Colonel. As such he took the general command of " The Marine 
Artillery" until after it reached Washington. In passing Alexandria, then 
in the hands of secessionists, danger was apprehended ; but Ijy a wel' 
devised strategy the steamer upon which the battery was eml)arked 
reached the capital without molestation. 

On his return from South America, in 1818, Mr. Arnold was united in 
marriage to Miss Louisa Giudrat Arnold, daughter of his uncle Richard 
J. Arnold. Mrs Arnold and three daughters survive to mourn his loss. 

In \8ii Mr. Arnold became a member of the Rhode Island Historical 
Society. In 1845, under the original organization, he was elected a 
Trustee, a position held by him until 1849. From 1855 to 18G8 he held the 
office of a Vice President. In 1868 he succeeded the late Judge Albert G. 
Greene as President, — his two predecessors, like himself, dying in office. 
His classical training, his extensive travels, his familiarity with men and 
events, his pronounced opinions on public aflairs, his keen sense of right, 
his quick recognition of social proprieties, his high ideal of honor, his 
consistenpy in friendships, his urbanity, and his readiness to impart infor- 
mation by whomsoever sought, eminently qualified him for instructive 
companionship, and for tlie acceptable discharge of public duties. 

For several years prior to the decease of Mr. Arnold a gradual weaken- 
ing of the vital forces was perceptible. Journeys to a more genial 
climate, if they retarded, did not stop the progress of disease, and in the 
winter of 1879 the rapid approach of its final issue was made painfully 
manifest to solicitous friends. But in the prospect before him he was calm 
and self-possessed. " In his last illness," writes one wluse accurate 
delineation of Mr. Arnold's life and character appeared in the Providence 
Journal on the morning after his decease, " it was observed how quick and 
warm was his appreciation of the kind attentions of his friends. The 
pain and sore weariness of wasting disease he bore not only without com- 



96 RHODE ISLAND HLSTORICAL SOCIETY. 

plaining, but with patience and cheerful courage. When his friends were 
sad and depressed by his bedside, it was the patient himself who came to 
their relief with some bright, uplifting I'emark, uttered in the same famil- 
iar tones they had been wont to hear in the days of his health and strength. 
In the full possession of his faculties to the last, he made all his arrange- 
ments with calmness, as if for some journey he was about to make. 
Accustomed to contemplate thoughtfully the issues of life and the reali- 
ties of the hereafter, he looked to the coming inevitable hour with com- 
posure and with expectation, in submission to the will of Heaven. And 
so has gone from among us another of our worthiest citizens. Not only 
by those who were nearest to him, and in the midst of whom he died, but 
by many others, too, will he be missed and mourned. _ But he leaves 
behind him the memory of an upright, honorable and generous character, 
and of many valuable services, which he loyally rendered to his native city 
and State." 

Mr. Arnold died at the Narragansett Hotel in Providciico, where, with 
his family, he was temporarily residing, February i;5th, 1880. On the 
afternoon of the following day, the Historical Societ}^ met to take becom- 
ing notice of the sad event. A minute to be entered on the Society's Rec- 
ords was presented by Professor William Gammell, which he supplemented 
with a discriminating notice of the deceased. Remarks were also made 
by Professor J. Lewis Diman, and the writer of this brief sketch, draw- 
ing attention to the striking characteristics of Mr. Arnold. The minute 
was then unanimously adopted. 

The funeral services of the deceased took place February lOth at the 
First Baptist Meeting house, in the presence of a very large audience, 
among whom were Governor Van Zandt, Secretary of State Addeman, 
members of the State legislature, His Honor Mayor Doyle, members of 
the city government, and members of the Rhode Island Historical Society. 
The services, simple, appropriate and impressive, were conducted by Rev. 
Drs. Ezekiel G. Robinson, Samuel L. Caldwell, and William Hague, each 
of whom made touching addresses. The remains were interred in Swan 
Point Cemeter}'. e. m. s. 



THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE, 

HABITS AND CUSTOMS, 



NATIVE INDIANS OF AMERICA, 



AND THEIR 



TREATMENT BY THE FIRST SETTLERS. 



A'N ADDEESS 



DELIVKRED BEFORE THE 



RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



DECEMBER -1, 1879, 



ZACIIAKIAII ALLEN 
13 



"'^^ 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



THE INDIAN AGE OF STONE. 

The recent discovery of an ancient Indian manuftictorj' of stone pots 
and smoking pipes near Providence, and the persevering researches of 
Rev. Frederic Denison and of Mr. Charles Gorton, have excited fresh 
interest in the early liistory of the Indian race. The admirable collection 
of more than a thousand specimens of artistic stone-arrow-heads, hatch- 
ets, chisels, pestles and mortars, and also of shell beads of different col- 
ors, exhibited before you, are memorials of the race of red men who 
once owned and occupied the beautiful isles and shores of Narragansett 
Bay, and are now passed away. These implements of stone are evi- 
dences of their progress in the useful arts, and of their degree of civiliza- 
tion. While they have disappeared, their thoughts and deeds remain 
engraved on those imperishable stones. So the petrified remains of plants 
and animals, found on our planet, are the *' sermons in stones," that, as 
pre-historic records, show the exercise of divine intelligence and power. 

The first exercise of human skill and intelligence was early manifested 
by modelling the abundant quartz and flints on the earth's surface into 
various tools and implements subservient for useful purposes in the arts 
of war and peace. For this reason the primeval stage of human existence 
has been characterized 

THE .\GK OK STONE. 

Stone implements, such as arrow heads, hatchets, pestles and mortars, 
etc., now displayed before you, have been found on different parts of the 
earth, resembling those made by the New England Indians. 

The quarry of soft soapstone, or steatite, near Providence, offered facili- 
ties for modelling this material into various useful vessels, as pots and 
pipes. The extent to which this quarry has been worked by the Indians 



100 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

is mauifest by the excavations whicli the present proprietor* states once 
formed apartments under cover of the shelving cliff. There workmen 
might have been emploj'ed as in a manufactory But no metallic imple- 
ments of bronze, of Indian manufacture, have here been discovered, such as 
were found among the native Indians of Mexico, when discovered by the 
Spaniards in 1492. The Indians there had so far progressed as to be able 
to extract metals from ores of copper and tin, and to melt them together 
to produce bronze. This compound is rendered nearly as hard as steel 
for cutting wood and granite, by being cast into cold metallic moulds to 
chill it, as practised at the present day, in chilling cast iron and bronze. 
The native Mexicans had thus made a progress in the useful arts, wliich 
has been classed as 

THE AGR OF IIKOXZK. 

Their second stage of human progress included also skill in the manu- 
facture of gold and silver vessels, of textile fabrics of cotton, wool and 
flax, dyeing cochineal red, and also of interweaving the bright feathers of 
parrots and of humming-birds into gorgeous mantles, that were prized by 
the ancient- dames of Spain, as they now are by modern ladies. The age 
of bronze in Mexico, and in Egypt at an earlier date, appear to have been 
nearly similar, as neitiier had progressed to the third stage of 

THE AGE OF IRON. 

The natives of India and China appear to have made the earliest pro- 
gress in the use of iron and steel, as well as in the manufacture and dye- 
ing of cotton fabrics, wool and silk. The silks of India were early prized 
in Europe at nearly the value of their weight in gold. Fine India muslins 
were of such a gossamer texture as to leave the contour of beautiful 
forms half revealed beneath folds of transparent drapery. The porcelain 
of china also surpassed that of Europe during the past century, and still 
remains admirable as " china ware.'' The Chinese were the first to utilize 
steel for magnetic needles for guiding vessels across pathless seas, and 
travellers across the great steppes of Asia. 

Then the Greeks progressed in the use of steel in the art of war, and 
were thus enabled to dominate over the less skillful nations of the earth. 
The serried ranks of the Macedonian phalanx, armed with glittering steel, 
and led by Alexander, marched triumphantly to the regions of India. 

* Horatio N. Angell. 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAII ALLEN. 101 

Afterward the superior skill of the Romans in the use of steel swords 
predominated over the civilized world, with a facility graphically described 
by Caesar in the memorable words, ^-Veni, vidi, vici,— ! came, I saw, I 
conquered!" 

Since then, this paramount power in the use of steel implements of war 
has been acknowledged by international law as supreme " by the right of 
conquest." 

After a time the relaxation of Roman vigor by luxury enabled the hard- 
ier nations of the North to predominate, and then came the decline and 
fall of the Roman empire. Next followed the great improvement efl'ected 
bj' combining the use of iron implements as guns, for rendering efficient 
the explosive force of gunpowder. In this invention the Turks took the 
lead iu the fourteenth century by capturing Constantinople from the 
Romans, — by besieging Vienna, and threatening to overrun Europe. They 
fitted out Barl:mry corsairs, which spi^ad terror along the shores of the 
Mediterranean, and the adjacent Atlantic. All christians (as infidels) were 
captured and sold as slaves, unless ransomed. One of the original settlers 
of Providence, William Harris, was captured by a Barbary corsair on his 
voyage to Kurope, enslaved, and finally ransomed by the Connecticut col- 
onists, in whose service he was employed. Thus Carthage once ruled 
the waves, as Britannia has since, by superior efficiency in the use of iron 
and gunpowder on the high seas. 

In the recently published biography of Admiral Farragut it is stated : 
"In 1558 the Turks carried off four thousand of the inhabitants of the 
coast of Italy, including his ancestor, Antonio Farragut, his wife, and six 
children; who were ransomed and returned to Italy after six years' cap- 
tivity." What a contrast does this event attbrd to the superior power 
wielded by their descendant on the waters at New Orleans and Mobile. 

The maritime countries of Europe long continued to pay tribute to the 
Barbary States, untTl the skill and courage of the people of the United 
States of North America finally compelled the Crescent to yield to the 
Cross, by boldly attacking the fortified ports of Tripoli and Algiers; 
whereby Europe was relieved from further tril)ute. 

The early superiority of the Turks in the effective use of cannon and 
fire-arms was realized by me on visiting the arsenal of Constantinople, in 
the year 1851. Among the specimens of ancient arms, there were breech- 
loading cannon and guns, and I'evolving fire-arms, which antedate these 
inventions by any other people. These rude specimens of fire-arms exhib- 
ited a remarkable contrast, when compared with the improved breech- 



102 KHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

loadiug rifles, of which six hundred thousand were recently furnished to 
the Turks from the workshops of Providence, to repel the Russian 
invaders. The rapiditj'^ of discharging rifle balls from these improved 
guns, with a range nearly equal to that of artillery, and a precision that is 
marvellous, has essentially changed the old systems of warfare, and of 
artillery practice, aud is destined hereafter to determine "the course of 
empire." 

Had a few of these rifles been available on the classic fields of Troy, 
near Constantinople, where Homer's heroes, gods and goddesses, con- 
tended in a teu years' war, Jupiter might have preferred a repeating rifle 
to a zig-zag thunderbolt, and Ulysses have "got through aud gone home," 
before he was forgotten by his wife. 

The dexterity of the Spaniards with their superior steel weapons in ex- 
terminating the natives of Central America is descrii)ed by Las Casas, 
Bishop of Chiapa, who was an eye witness of their actions : " The Span- 
iards, mounted on horses, and armed with steel swords and lances, com- 
mitted the most horrible slaughters with impunity. They passed tlirougli 
the towns, killing W'omen and children as well as men. They laid wagers 
one with another, who could cleave a man down most dexterously with 
his sword, or take ofl" his head from his shoulders at one l)low, or run a 
mau through most efl'ectually. They lianged thirteen of these poor hea- 
then in honor of Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles. They erected 
scaffolds upon forked poles, and laid the chiefs and principal men ujjou 
them, and kindled a slow fire beneath to cause the most ex(iuisite anguish 
and outcries." "By the barbarous cruelties inflicted by the Spaniards on 
the aborigines in Mexico, they exterminated more than eleven millions of 
them within forty years after the discovery of America." 

The Spaniards, under Philip 11, inflicted similar exterminating cruelties 
on the Protestants in the Low Countries, and Protestants, Jews, Gen- 
tiles, and Mohammedans, all alike, have used their predominant physical 
power in exterminating, bj' martyr fires aud cruel deaths, others of dif- 
ferent religious creeds, denoted " heathen." 

To resist this genei'al instinctive propensity of the more powerful to 
dominate over the weaker, swords were formerly worn by the sides of 
civilized men, and revolvers at the present day. The human species hav- 
ing no natural weapons for self defence, as horns, claws, tusks, or stings, 
are necessitated to seek out many inventions for strengthening " their 
hands to war, and fingers to fight." For mutual protection of the weak 
against the strong, various species of animals associate together in flocks 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 103 

and lierds, and the human species unite as fellow citizens in communities; 
whereby the power of the whole population is employed to protect each 
individual. This is civilization. The advantages of Roman citizenship, 
or civilization, was manifest in the appeal of St. Paul against the cruelties 
of the Jewish priests. 

After the christian nations of Europe improved their steel implements 
of war, reinforced by gunpowder, they in turn began to dominate over 
other nations of the earth, as the Romans and Mohammedans had previ- 
ously done When the Spanish rulers sent out Columbus to take posses- 
sion of America, " by virtue of his Christianity," the Pope in Rome actually 
made to them a free gift of the whole continent from pole to pole, with all 
the people and their property ; which was certainly a very munificent gift. 
Then all other christian nations joined in the general scramble, by sending 
out maritime expeditions for plundering heathen countries. Royal 
licenses were granted to buccaneering adventurers, " to take possession 
of any lands or property not previously subjected to any christian prince 
or people." The great wealth of the infidel people of India early attracted 
the notice of the steel-armed Greeks under Alexander, and then of the 
Mohammedans. The proverbial wealth of "the great Moguls" was a 
tempting prize to the European christians, and especially to the Italian 
merchants and navigators of the fourteenth century, who were engaged 
in oriental commerce. It became the day-dream of the Italian navigators 
to reach India or Cathay directly, by sailing westward. To accomplish 
this purpose an Italian navigator, Columbus, prevailed on the Spanish 
rulers in 1492 to fit out vessels to make the passage direct. He stumbled 
on the intervening continent of America, Avhich barred his way ; but was 
very successful in plundering the heathen natives of Mexico of their gold 
and silver, and other property, accumulated in their ancient cities. This 
success stimulated a second Italian navigator. John Cabot, to go to 
England, to promote another attempt to reach Cathay by a direct passage 
by sailing westerly in a more northerly latitude. Cabot induced a com- 
pany of English merchants to fit out an expedition in 1490, four years 
after that of Columbus. They obtained a license or royal patent from 
Henry VII, in consideration of one-fifth of the profits accruing to him. 
He gave them authority under the British flag " to sail over the seas and 
seize any lands or countries not previously possessed by any christian 
people." 

John Cabot made the attempt to reach Cathay by sailing to the icy coasts 
of Newfoundland, and then by proceeding southerly along the coast. He 



104 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

failed in flndiiig a passage; which was fortunate for tlie people of India, 
who were thus saved from the spoliations inflicted* by the Spaniards on 
the American Indians. 

Central America, when first discovered, was supposed to be a part of 
India, and hence that region was called "West India," and the natives 
were denoted "Indians." 

A third Italian navigator, John Verazzano, came to France twenty-eight 
years later (1524) and urged the royal rulers to renew the attempt to find 
a direct passage to India. He sailed directly to the present capes of Vir- 
ginia, and from thence explored the coast as far as Maine and Newfound- 
land. He published an account of his entering the mouth of the present 
Hudson river; which was seventy-five years afterward settled by the 
Dutch under the English navigator, Hudson. Verazzano from thence fol- 
lowed the southern coast of Long Island, passed Block Island, and 
entered Narragansett Bay. There he anchored, and remained fifteen days 
in exploring its shores and islands. He was the first European who ever 
beheld the land where we now dwell, — unless credit be given to the legends 
of the Northmen. He describes the natives as being " the goodliest people 
we have found, being liberal and friendly, but unacquainted with the use 
of iron." "They are clothed in dressed leather skins and furs. The 
women modestly refused to leave the canoes to come on board our vessel. 
The shores and islands of the bay are covered by forest trees." 

Continuing his voyage along the coast around Cape Cod, he describes 
the natives there as being " suspicious, hostile, and desirous of obtaining 
steel implements for defence against kidnappers ; who frequented the coast 
to seize and transport them for sale as slaves to the Spanish planters in 
the West Indies. There being no gold or silver here to reward the navi- 
gators, as in Mexico, and only a few furs and skins for traflic, the buc- 
canneers, for profit, had recourse to the capture of the natives for slaves : 
as has been the case in ages past on the coast of Europe by the Moham- 
medans, and on the coast of Africa by all other nations. Imbued with the 
belief of the right of ownership, founded on superior might of arms and 
conquest, all the first maratime adventurers from Europe considered the 
lives and property of heathen people to be subjected to their peculiar use. 

The first settlers of New England began to kill and sell the natives at 
their pleasure. 

After despoiling the Mexicans and Peruvians of their gold, silver, and 
other wealth, accumulated in their Age of Bronze, the Spanish adventurers 
and cavaliers sighed for other similar regions to conquer,— au Eldorado 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIARIAH ALLEN. 105 

somewhere in the interior of North Atiu-rica. Ponce ile Leon and De Soto 
made raids from Florida and traversed wild forests only to find poor, un- 
civilized natives, armed with bows and stone-pointetl arrows, and pos- 
sessed of no valuable property. These adventurers obtained food by plun- 
dering the Indians, and found graves beneath the forest shades. De Soto 
was buried in the turbid waters of the great river Mississippi, which he 
was the tirst of Europeans to discover. The poverty of the natives saved 
them from the continued presence and oppressions of the invaders. 

The whole coast of North America, from Florida to Maine, oflered no 
inducements to tempt Europeans to settle therein, except for agriculture. 
Labor and toil were not relished by the tirst maritime adventurers, who 
brought with them only swords and lire-arms, and no hoes or ploughs for 
tilling the soil. After the lapse of nearly a hundred years of repeated ex- 
ploring expeditious in vain attempts to reach the coveted wealthy regions 
of India, the French people appear to have beeu the first to commence a 
more rational system of trading with the natives for skins and furs, 
and especially for embarking in the profitable cod-fishery. on the New 
England coast. To carry on these liouest business pursuits, they sent 
vessels under Jacques Cartier, in 1534,— eighty-six years before the first 
settlement of Plymouth in New England,— to make permanent locations 
ou the sea-coasts adjacent to the cod-fisheries, and to establish trading 
posts among the interior tribes of Indians on the great river St. Lawrence 
and on the great lakes, over to the river Mississippi. 

Jacques Cartier narrates that he was *' entertained near Montreal by an 
assemblage of Indians, with a feast of corn, beans, squashes pumpkins, 
and fishes." This statement shows that the aborigines of North America 
were an agricultural, not merely a nomadic people, living by the chase and 
fishing. 

The importance of the cod-fishery on the coasts of Newfoundland and 
"New England" as first named by John Smith in 160G, was manifested by 
" the employment of more than four hundred fishing vessels from Europe 
in this profitable business so early as the year 1583." 

The island of New Foundland being convenient for a permanent fishing 
station, a company was organized in England by Humphrey Gilbert under 
the first English royal patent, granted by Queen Elizabeth, -'to take 
possession of any remote lands not occupied by any christian prince or 
people, and to exclude all persons from coming to settle within two hun- 
dred leagues of any place he might occupy," the queen " reserving a right 
to share one-fifth of all the profits." 
U 



106 RHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

Gilbert made a permanent settlement in Nevvfounclland, and, 'by right 
of discovery by John Cabot, secnred the possession of that island, with 
all its coal mines, to England. He was accompanied by his step-brother, 
Walter Raleigh; who obtained another patent from Queeu Elizabeth, 
two years later (1585), for establishing a colony further south under 
a milder climate on the American coast, and with a similar exclusive 
right " to all territory within two hundred leagues of his settlement." 
Two vessels were fitted out by the company of merchant adventurers in 
London, which carried out emigrauts destined to settle north of the Span- 
ish settlement in Florida. They were landed on the coast near Roanoke, 
which they named " Virginia," in compliment to their virgin queen. 

Mr. Bancroft desci-ibes these adventurers to have been "broken down 
gentlemen and libertines, more fitted to corrupt a republic than to found 
one. There were very few mechanics, farmers, or laborers among them." 
They carried out swords and fire-arms, like the previous Spanish and 
French adventurers to Florida, to win their living, instead of earning it 
by labor. They immediately began to seize the provisions belonging to 
the natives, and proved themselves to have been a buccaneering associa- 
tion of communists by plundering and enslaving the natives, and uniting 
in a Joint Stock London Company, to divide the profits of their plunder. 

Although armed only with arrows and spears, the natives resisted their 
invaders successfully, and not one of them was left to tell the tale of their 
extermination when the next company of adventurers arrived. 

The second company, pursuing the same course of pluuderiug, was 
nearly exterminated. More than three hundix-d and fifty were massacred 
in one night. Having brought no agricultural tools for producing their 
own food, and the feeble natives having fled to the forests, the few sur- 
viving colonists were reduced to such a condition of starvation, that "the 
living had not strength to bury the dead decently, and the bodies were 
trailed out for burial like dogs." 

Based on communistic and socialistic principles, the Virginia Company 
failed of success, until this system was radically changed to that of indi- 
vidual self interest, by a division of the land, under the direction of Cap- 
tain John Smith, of Pocahontas celebrity. He induced the directors to 
apportion lots of land in plantations for each one of the colonists; where- 
by, as historically stated, "every man, working for himself, produced 
more than thirty working for the common stock." He instituted syste- 
matic industry for self support, instead of the wild and adventurous caaeer 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 107 

of which their chivalrous ami talented leatler, Sir Walter Haleiu;h, had 
been an eminent example, with the termination of his life on ;v scafl'old, in 
1602, after devoting it to colonizing enterprises and expending £40,000 in 
vain. 

Immediately after abondoning the system of plundering the native In- 
dians, and reorganizing the colony on the basis of individual self interest, 
labor, and economy, the Virginia settlers began to thrive by raising corn 
and tobacco, making turpentine and resin, and exporting timber. Thus 
rendered independent and comfortable, they became desirous of making 
there a permanent home, and being lonesome, like Adam in paradise 
without a 'wife, but not being, like him, furnished with a supply ready 
at hand, they fouud it necessary to send out orders for them to London. 
The cost of importation is described as having been established at one 
hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty pounds of the staple article 
of tobacco ; which appears to have been about the average weight of the 
articles imported. " Some of the first families in Virginia," history 
states. " are descended from these first settlers." 

After the rational system of laljor and self dependence had been estab- 
lished by John Smith, Gates, and others, the colonists began to throw ofl" 
their dependence on the English rulers, and to elect their own officers, and 
the first representative assembly was chosen in IG19. But the buccaneer- 
ing principle of enslaving the natives of America was transferred to 
enslaving the natives of Africa in 1G18 ; which subsequently cost the lives 
of a million of freemen fully to abolish. 

After the commencement of a system of self government in the Vir- 
ginia Colony, the further services of the old directors in Loudon became 
so obnoxious to the people, that in 1623, the royal Virginia patent was 
formally cancelled, and the company dissolved. 

In the depressed condition of the Virginia Joint Stock Company, after 
the decapitation of their leader, Walter Raleigh, Captain John Smith re- 
turned to England, and commenced a project of retrieving the financial 
condition of the company by securing a monopoly of the profitable cod- 
fishery on the coast of New England. He proposed to plant a colony on 
the adjacent shore of" Cape Cod," and then to claim the monopoly of this 
lucrative fishery under the broad patent of the Virginia Company, by ex- 
cluding all-others from coming within "two hundred leagues of their col- 
ony." Accordingly John Smith was sent out by the London Directors to 
explore the New England coast, in order to find the most favorable loca- 



108 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

lion for a fishin.i; station. Aided by Ferdinando Gorges he went fioni the 
present border of Maine to Cape Cod in au open boat, and made a chart 
of the coast. He selected the port of Plymouth, and gave it its present 
name. 

This project being favored by Captain Gosnold and Gorges, the Virginia 
Company advertised shares in this new joint stock company, under their 
old patent, for ten pounds per share to capitalists, and for seven years' 
personal services to actual settlers, with a division of the land and profits 
at the end of seven years. Their advertisements reached some English 
refugees, who had fled from England to enjoy the exercise of their pecu- 
liar religious principles, in Holland, that glorious country of religious 
freedom. Their leaders, Mr. Bradford and Mr. Robinson, state that they 
were kindly received, but the emigrants became restless because their 
j'ounger members intermarried with the Dutch, and their English lan- 
guage was yielding to the Dutch language. The refugees, who assumed 
the name of Pilgrims from their second removal, appointed John Carver 
to contract with the London Directors of the Virginia Company ; and 
many of the very poorest bound themselves to seven years of personal ser- 
vice in the colony as a commutation for the ten pounds per share, and also 
to find their own food and clothing. In accordance with this contract, no 
supply of food or tents were provided, and the emigrants were landed in 
mid-winter on the cold New England coast, and left to care for themselves. 
The natural result was the death by exposure and starvation of nearly half 
of these Plymouth colonists during the first winter, — precisely as had 
occurred in the tvv^o previous attempts of this "Virginia Company" to 
colonize. Thus were these poor emigrants deluded by the advertisement 
of the Loudon Joint Stock Company, and instead of sharing in profits and 
the division of lands, equal in extent to the whole of Holland, they found 
graves on a sandy blufiT of the sea-shore. 

The grasping London Directors not only attempted to obtain the posses- 
sion of a great region of territory on the land, but also a monoply of the 
adjacent fishery on the high sea, within the designated "two hundred 
leagues of their settlement." They thus calculated both to plunder the 
Indians of their lands, and also their fellow-countrymen of their common 
law rights on the open sea. To carry out this purpose they prevailed 
on the authorities to send out an English Admiral to enforce their claim, 
and drive oflf any vessel approaching the coast without their license. It 
was this blockade that prevented any vessels coming to the port of Ply- 
mouth, and consequently prevented the first settlers from obtaining sup- 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIAKIAH ALLEX. 109 

plies from the miinerous fishing vessels on the adjacent sea, althonf;h, as 
Morton states, there were more than seventy at one time near them. 

•Having bronght no supply of provisions with them, the Pilgrims imme- 
diately after landini,' used their swords and guns to carry out the original 
purpose of taking possession of the country and property of the natives. 
The historian of Plymouth, Morton, narrates: "The lirst explorers found 
fair baskets of corn and beans in the Indian houses, wliich they brought 
away without paying for. The Indians defended their property witli bows 
and arrows until the bullets splintered the bark of trees, behind which 
they were sheltered ; when they sprang away with a yell." 

One of this exploring party, Mourt, narrates: "We found houses ftir- 
nishedwith bowles, dishes, and trays, made of wood. There were earthen 
pots, baskets ingeniously ornamented with shells of black and white col- 
ors, wrought together in pretty work. Among useful household stufl'werc 
ornamented things, such as deers' horns, shells, and eagles' claws. There 
were provisions of corn, beans, dried fish, and tobacco. Outside were 
bundles of flags, bulrushes, sedges, and other materials for manufactures " 
" The houses are built of poles, arched over at top, with an opening for 
the smoke. The inside was neatly lined with mats." lie continues: "The 
best things we brought away with us, including ten bushels of corn and 
beans. And truly 'twas God's Providence we found these things in our 
starving condition." 

The natives, armed with their bows and arrows, fled from the superior 
efficiency of the guns and swords ; which were then rendered useless for 
forcibly procuring bread, and could only be used for killing game. Had 
not a supply of shell-fish been obtainable on the shores, Mr. Palfrey states 
they must have nearly all perished in the winter. 

The assaults and robbery of the natives excited their hostility, and ren- 
dered them " enemies," as the first settlers made them, and called them 
from the outset. As an immediate consequence of a fear of retaliation, it 
is narrated : "Their sufl'erings by hunger and cold during the winter were 
augmented; for tluring their weakness and wants, they wore necessitated 
to employ their feeble strength to inclose the settlement with a palisade, 
and to barricade their dwellings." " They even carefully smoothed over 
the numerous fresh-made graves of their companions, to conceal from the 
Indians the diminished numbers and weakness of the survivors. The 
few survivors had scarcely strength to attend the dying." At one time, 
" a man could not halloo at night without creating a general alarm of an 
onslaught by the enemy." 



110 EHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

That tlie first settlers of Plymouth brought these troubles upon them- 
selves is proved by the subsequent frieucUy course manifested by the adja- 
cent Indians. After the famishing Plymouth settlers, in the ensuing spring, 
were reduced by hunger to the necessity of acting like christians, in send- 
ing payment to the Indians for the corn they had robbed them of, and of 
offering to pay them justly for more, then the Indians not only brought 
them corn, but showed them how to plant and raise it for themselves. 

That the Indians of New England were naturally endowed Avith gentle 
as well as grateful feelings, is proved by the kindness and hospitality of 
the Sachem Massasoit, the chief of the natives near Plymouth, lioger 
Williams, as a christian missionary, visited him, and labored to improve 
and benefit his people. Years afterward, when Williams Avas proscribed 
by the Massachusetts Puritans, he fled to the hospitable shelter of his wig- 
wam, and was kindly entertained there during fourteen weeks in mid- 
winter. And Canonicus, the same old Narragansett Chief, who defiantly 
sent a bundle of arrows tied together by a rattlesnake skin, to the Plj'- 
mouth settlers, gratefully requited the kind treatment of Koger Williams 
by freely giving to him, when banished, the land where the city of Provi- 
dence is built, and where we now have our pleasant homes. Thus it 
appears that though the Indians had only weapons of stone, yet they had 
not hearts of stone. 

In like manner the first settlers of Hartford obtained, in their extremity, 
during the first year after their arrival, a cargo of corn from Canonicus. 
By pursuing the course of christian justice and kindness to the Indians, 
the people of Rhode Island ever lived amicably among them ; and until 
the four United New England Colonies made an exterminating war against 
them, Williams affirms : "I cannot learn that the Narragansetts have ever 
stained their hands with any English blood, either in open hostilities or 
secret murders. Many hundreds of the English people have found them 
inclined to peace and love. Through all their lands many a solitary 
Englishman has travelled alone with safety and loving kindness. Hath 
not the God of peace and Father of Mercies made these natives more 
friendly to us in this their own country, than our fellow-countrymen in our 
native land ?" 

Edward Winslow stated in a letter : " We have found the Indians very 
faithful to their covenants of peace with us, very loving, and ready to 
pleasure us. We go with them fifty miles into the country, and walk as 
safely in the woods as in the highways in England. Though not profess- 
ing religion, they are trusty, quick of apprehension, humorous and just." 



ADDRESS OF ZArilAUIAlI ALLKN. HI 

Cushmau writes : '-To us they liavc been like lambs; so kind, trusty 
and submissive, that many christians are not so sincere." 

Had the first settlers of New England been wholly actuated by christian 
principles of " peace and good will to men," instead of being involveil as 
adventurers in rapacious joint stock companies, by the false and delusive 
representations of their promoters, a. very difterent history of their char- 
acter and conduct might have been recorded. 

When the real intention of the directors of the Virginia Company to 
enforce a monopoly of the fisheries on the New England sea-coast l)ecame 
known, they were strenuously opposed by the English merchants and 
members of Parliament, and immediate measures were adopted to defeat 
the attempt. A new royal patent was forthwith applied for and obtained 
from King James, in November, Ifii'O, even while the Mayflower was on 
the way to New England. This royal patent constituted the original basis 
of the *' Massachusetts Bay Company." 

After arriving at Plymouth, so remote from the original locality of the 
Virginia settlement, the Pilgrim emigrants became immediately aware of 
the deception practiced upon them, which was shuftied ofl" upon the cap- 
tain, as having been " bribed by the Dutch to land them on the New 
England coast." Kealizing that the Virginia patent was worthless author- 
ity for founding a colony in New England, the emigrants held a meeting 
in the cabin of the Mayflower before landing; and in this emergency no 
other course was left than to make an immediate agreement among them- 
selves for the regulation of their conduct, and submission to such leaders 
as the majority might appoint. This simple agreement, written and 
signed on board the Mayflower, constitnteil their original democraiic form 
of government under the common law of England. Before they had 
entered into this covenant in the cabin of the Mayflower they were legally 
subjected to the new charter granted by King James to another set of 
directors in the southwest of England. But having become organized 
and in actual possession of that part of the country, the Plymouth Col- 
ony was left to its own control without interruption for many years until 
tlieir final union with " the Bay." 

In forming the New England Colony, John Smith narrates : " I labored 
to bring together the western merchants and the London Virginia Com- 
pany, but found that each desired to be lord of the fisheries. To induce 
emigrants to go to New England, and leave the comforts of the English 
homes, I believed that no other motives than profit would determine 
them." 



112 KIIUDE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The patent granted by King James to the New Western Company in- 
chuled an extraordinary extent of territory, authorizing tliem to hold 
exclusive possession of all the land lying between tlie fortieth and forty- 
eighth degree of north latitude, and extending from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific ocean,— then called " the South Sea." This grant covered terri- 
tory already in possession of the Dutch on the Hudson river, and French 
in Maine and along the river St. Lawrence to the great lakes, and even to 
the Mississippi river. ''This Massachusetts Patent included more than a 
million of square miles, capable of containing a greater population than 
Europe then contained."* " Without permission of this new company of 
' the Council of Plymouth,' not a vessel was allowed to enter a harbor 
between Newfoundland and the latitude of Philadelphia, nor a skin to be 
bought of an Indian, or a tish caught on the coast; or even an emigrant to 
tread on their soil." Bancroft adds : 'A royal grant of such a vast extent 
of the American continent without regard to the rights of other nations 
and individuals, excited the amazement of Englishmen, and the scorn of 
powerful nations. This grant was illegal, as a violation of the constitu- 
tional laws, by contravening the common law rights of all Englishmen. 
It was protested against by Sir Edward Coke in Parliament, as conceal- 
ing plans of private prolit under color of public good, in planting a 
colony." 

Mr. Bancroft further adds: " The maritime adventurers of those days, 
joining the principles of bigots with the boldness of heroes and pirates, 
considered the wealth of the countries which they might discover, as their 
rightful plunder, and the inhabitants, if christians, as subjects; — if infi- 
dels, as their slaves." "Experience shows that corporations, whether 
commercial or proprietary, are the worst sovereigns; gain being their 
object If skillfully administered, the colonists are made subservient to 
commercial avarice, and are pillaged by faithless agents. Corporate ambi- 
tion is deaf to mercy and insensible to shame." 

Mr. Palfrey says:* "It would be an error to suppose that the commu- 
nity at Plymouth was strictly of a religious character. The London Joint 
Stock Company had business objects, and was by no means solely swayed 
by religious sympathies There is no proof that these Leyden people had 
any control in the selection of their copartners. One of them, John Bd- 
lington, was afterward hung for murder; and two others were punished 

* BimcrofVs History of the United States, ch. v. 
t History of New England, ch. v. 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIAHIAII ALLEX. 1 1)] 

for fi<.1itiiii? with swords iuid daggers. Of the twenty-seven who survived 
the first winter after being landed from the Mayflower, eleven only were 
favorably known. All the rest are either known unfavorably, or only liy 
name." 

But certainly their piety and self-sacrifice in leaving their native land 
and fleeing to Holland for the purpose of there enjoying religious freedom 
entitles them to esteem and veneration. 

The Dutch rulers ottered to transport the English emigrants to their 
colony in New York, and to allow them the same freedom of public wor- 
ship they had enjoyed in Holland ; hut it appears they could obtain no 
otherguarautyof the same privilege in America than the assurance, "there 
are no bishops to persecute you." They chose New Eugland rather than 
the Dutch colony at New York, because, as they averred, they desired to 
preserve their English language and relationships. They became copart- 
ners in a grasping London company for sharing in the profits of seizing 
Indian lauds, and their owners as heathen slaves, and for obtaining a 
wrongful monopoly of the fisheries ou the adjacent sea. With a desire to 
believe paternal ancestors were solely actuated by religious motives in 
coming to Plymouth, the inflexible records of the early history of New 
England demonstrate that they came to America like the myriads of emi- 
grants who have since arrived here, for the primary worldly purpose of 
bettering their condition in life. 

To judge aright of their motives and action, it is necessary to revert to 
the circumstances and times when speculative maritime adventurers 
obtained buccaneering licenses for sailing over the seas to capture and 
plunder feebler countries. 

A recent report of the civil service in Great Britain alllrms: " Charters 
and monopolies, in a fit of good humor, were once tossed by a king to- 
some favorite person at court, who might have pleased him ; and these 
patents were as arbitrarily revoked in a fit of anger or drunkenness. An 
English king could once enrich a great baron or favorite, not only with 
spoils of foreign lands, but with those of fellow subjects. The great 
lords and ecclesiastics looked down haughtily upon the half-enslaved com- 
mon people. Reactions against such tyranny culminated in the riots 
under Watt Tyler, Jack Cade, and in the rebellion under Cromwell ; and 
finally in the execution of King Charles. America was given away, and 
colonized under royal grants and patents to trading monopolists." 

Pilgrims and Puritans alike, by virtue of their Christianity, assumed 
themselves to be the saints of the Lord, and that " the earth, with the 
15 



114 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

fiilness thereof, is the Lord's and the inheritance of his saints." They 
l)ractically attempted to establish the Jewish doctrine in the uew world 
which the Saviour came to abolish in the old world, in accordance with the 
precept: " The law was given by Moses ; but grace and truth came by 
Jesus Christ." 

After the unsuccessful experiment of carrying out these doctrines in 
Virginia and Plymouth, few emigrants were willing to make another sim- 
ilar experiment in Massachusetts. A few fishermen located themselves at 
Naumkeag, (Salem), under Mr. White and Mr. Conaut in 1628, and Endi- 
cott was sent out there in 1629, by the new company in England ; but the 
hardships of a fisherman's life on the ocean waves deterred new settlers 
from joining this small settlement, especially after learning the sufl'erings 
and miseries of all similar joint stock colonists under the management of 
a board of directors in England. Emigrants were unwilling to leave the 
comforts of their English homes and the security under English courts, to 
subject themselves to the arbitrary power of mercenary joint stock direc- 
tors, three thousand miles away. Having realized that the Virginia and 
Plymouth colonists had never prospered while they continued to be ruled 
by directors in England, and that they immediately began to thrive after 
the management of their affairs was placed in the hands of the colonists, 
to elect their own oflicers, the new company of the Council of Plymouth 
in England despaired of success, unless they allowed similar privileges of 
self-government to induce emigrants of wealth and influence to embark 
for settling their proposed colony on Massachusetts Bay. The English 
directors proffered to actual settlers not only the privileges of self-gov- 
ernment and of titled offices of distinction, but also the unimaginable 
extent of profits from sharing the Indian lands from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific oceans, which constituted the capital stock of the new Massachu- 
setts Bay Company. The idea of becoming independent rulers in New 
England, as governors, legislators, judges, etc., and of obtaining titles of 
honor and profits, from which they were excluded by the civil and eccle- 
siastical aristocracy in Old England, was fascinating to wealthy and 
ambitious men. Coveting such distinctions and honors, laymen and 
clergymen alike now ardently came forward to seek their fortunes in the 
New World. 

As it was entirely contrary to the policy and feelings of the royal rulers 
and Parliament of England to concede any formal grant of independence 
to the colonists, this result could only have been brought about indirectly, 
by considering the settlers to be members of an incorporated joint stock 
company, to which the appointment of agents and other officers is com- 



ADDRESS OF ZACHAKTAH ALLEN. 115 

monl3^ conveyed by legal acts of incorporation, as being essentially neces- 
sary for the judicious management of their attairs. To accomplish the 
proposed plan of establishing an independent company on the shores of 
Massachusetts Bay, the directors of the Council at Plymouth in England 
sold to Sir Henry Roswell, John Young, Johu Humphrey, John Endicott, 
and about forty others, a portion of their vast original patent; " bounded 
northerly by a line three miles north of every part of the river Merrimac, 
and by another line three miles south of the river Charles and the Massa- 
chusetts Bay, and extending westerly from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
ocean."* This long and narrow belt of land somewhat resembled a tape 
line in relative dimensions. To give a color of authority to the convey- 
ance '* the signature of King Charles I. was obtained after much labor and 
expense." " To his eyes the transfer was only that of a trading corpora- 
tion." " Not a single line alludes to freedom of religious worship."! 

These liberal terras, with advertisements of the profits from sales of 
lauds, and of the pleasures of free hunting and fishing on their own lands, 
excited such a rush of emigrants, that nearly three thousand came over in 
1629 and 1630; including gentlemen of wealth and influence, and clergy- 
men. John Winthrop was elected governor, and the civil government was 
organized. The ministers, Skelton and Higginson, who were clergymen 
of the Church of England, organized also an independent ecclesiastical 
government. These clergymen, who had taken an affectionate leave of 
their "dear mother church" on embarking, after disembarking cast ofi" 
their dear old mother for a new step mother, by a speedy wedding between 
their reorganized church, and the State of Massachusetts. They at once* 
began to exercise their usurped ecclesiastical power as supreme rulers, or 
popes in Boston. This was protested against by two brothers. Brown, 
shareholders in the Massachusetts Bay Company. They were arrested Ijy 
the civil rulers on complaint of the co-ecclesiastical rulers, and were sent 
back to England by the same vessel that brought them, with warning that 
" this is no place for such as you." They only desired the liberty of going 
to church as they had been accustomed to do. For this reason, Mr. Ban- 
croft affirms, " Episcopacy had no inducements to emigrate to Massachu- 
setts, for it was only Puritanism that emigrated to obtain ecclesiastical 
power." The ecclesiastical power then usurped by Skelton and Higgin- 
son was maintained in Massachusetts two hundred years, until linally 
abolished by a popular vote, establishing the Bill of Ilights, that now ex- 

* Prince, 247. t Bancruft, vol. i, p. 343. 



IIG RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

empts all persons from beiug taxed to support aiij^ church which they do 
not attend. 

To strengthen their authoritj- by couuectiou with the civil power of the 
State, the ministers in Boston, like the priests in Jerusalem and the Pope 
in Rome, assumed to be interpreters of God's will, and thus established a 
kind of Theocracy, enforcing their doctrines with the frequent use of 
the term, " Thus saith the Lord." 

That the Puritans did not come to New England to establish " religious 
freedom " and " for conscience* sake," as is commonly maintained by their 
descendants, was immediately manifest by their commencing to persecute 
the Baptists, Quakers, and other dissenters. 

The principal motives that induced our forefathers to come to New 
England, as previously narrated, were the profits of the sea-coast fisheries 
and the possession of a great extent of land under the royal license, de- 
noted a Patent. The immediate motive of the emigration of the wealthy 
and influential leaders was personal ambition to better their condition in 
life, and to act as independent rulers in the new world. 

That the main object of the first settlers of New England was the profit- 
able coast fishery is evidenced by their early suspending a huge codfish 
from the ceiling of their General Assembly room, over their heads, as a 
memorial of their devotion to their staple business pursuit. This Puritan 
codfish is still reverently preserved by their descendants in Boston, and 
may be now seen suspended over the heads of the representatives in the 
State House, covered with the dust of ages. The ancient Jews similarly 
,.set up and idolized a golden calf as an emblem of their devotion to their 
staple business of raising cattle. Likewise a great bale of wool is placed 
conspicuously in the House of Lords in England, and the presiding officer 
mounted thereon, to serve as an emblem of their devotion to the princi- 
pal staple manufacture of Great Britain. 

"The pursuit of fishing is an honest and honorable business," as 
affirmed by the King on signing the royal patent, "for it was the avoca- 
tion of the early christian disciples." The seizing possession of the In- 
dian lands without compensating the owners, as was expressly enjoined 
on the grantees of the royal patents, was not an honest or honorable busi- 
ness, and was opposed by the teachings of Roger Williams. For oppos- 
ing the unjust seizure of the Indian land, which afiected the pecuniary 
value of the capital stock of the Massachusetts Bay Company under their 
patent, Williams was indicted for treasonably "teaching certain strange 
doctrines, denying the authority of the magistrates," and sentenced to be 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 1 1 7 

sent back to England by a vessel then ready to sail ; precisely as the 
brothers Brown had been sent back for similarly denyiii- the authority of 
the ministers in Boston. 

The following protest was addressed by Williams to the rulers at a 
later date : 

•'In the sight of God you will rtnd tliis question at bottom to be, First— 
a depraved appetite for the great vanities, dreams and sliadows of this 
vanishing life by the acquisition of great portions of land in this wilder- 
ness; as if men were in great necessity and danger for want of land, like 
the poor thirsty and hungry seaman on a starving passage. Land is one 
of the gods of New England, for the idolatry of which the Most lligji will 
punish the transgressors." 

Having practically realized the despotic power wielded by the union of 
church and State, it thenceforth l)ecame the life-long labor of Williams to 
found a new colony upon the constitutional basis of separation of the 
ecclesiastical from the civil power. At that time the established church 
of England predominated in Great Britain under the rigid rule of Charles 
IT His tyranny excited the rebellion that caused his execution in IGW, 
and the subsequent triumph of Puritanism In England under Cromwell. 
The Massachusetts colonists, in becoming independent of the British rule 
in church and State, in 1630, set up a new independent dynasty for them- 
selves, in which Puritanism superseded the old established church with 
increased exacting rigor. During this period of revolutionary troubles in 
England, the little colony planted by Williams at Providence struggled for 
existence, in villages governed by mutual and conventional agreements on 
democratic principles. In 1643 an act of incorporation of Providence, 
with several towns under one government, was obtained. As historically 
stated, "the settlers were careful to conciliate the goodwill of all the 
Indians who claimed any sort of interest in the lands. Those who had 
built wigwams, or tilled the soil, received gratuities, in addition to what 
had been paid to the sachems. Confirmatory deeds from the successors 
of the first grantors were obtained; every new deed requiring some fur- 
ther gratuity." Amity was thus maintained, and the settlers built tiieir 
houses alongside of the Indian wigwams. 

The Rhode Island colonists continually struggled against the encroach- 
ments of the Four United Colonies around them, until a royal charter was 
obtained, in 1662, from Charles II, granting them civil and religious free- 
dom. The King desired to secure religious freedom for public worship to 
the Catholics in England, and gladly signed the charter conveying this 



118 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

privilege to the people of the little colony, as "a livelj- experiment" for 
showing that a civil governraeut amy best be established and maintained 
with a complete freedom of opinion in all religious concernments. The 
Puritans in England delayed the final passing of the charter under the 
great seal, fearing that this liberal concession might be a precedent for 
the free worship of the Roman Catholics; but "the roaring of the lion 
finally prevailed and brought it about," as Williams narrates. 

A similar resistance to the establishment of religious freedom in England 
was made afterward by the sectarians, when James II. attempted to pro- 
claim religious toleration for the benefit of all dissenters from the estab- 
lished church, including the Roman Catholics. "A convocation of the 
leading dissenters thanked his majesty for his courtesy, but answered, 
they preferred to remain as they were. Then the King tore up with his 
own hands the proclamation he had prepared."* The ecclesiastics verified 
the origin of their name from the original Greek word, ekkleio : I exclude. 

To prevent ecclesiastical tyranny in our republic the people made the 
first amendment to their constitution, forbidding "any establishment of 
religion, and any law prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 

The adoption of the Monroe Doctrine, in 1823, virtually checks the 
arrogant assumption of absolute power by Europeans over the land and 
people of America, as they have been accustomed to do in ages past. The 
last attempted was by a French emperor to place Maximilian on a throne. 
By opposing the right of European maritime adventurers to seize the 
lands and property of the Indians in America, Roger Williams appears to 
have taken the lead in this Monroe Doctrine, as well as in establishing 
freedom from ecclesiastical tyranny in the separation of Church and 
State. 

While the leaders of the New England settlers have often erred in not 
adhering to principles of justice and christian beneficence, the common 
people have steadfastly persevered with intelligence and skill in making 
the wilderness to blossom as the rose. They have manifested vigor and 
virtues that have honored the human race 

Relying on the gratitude of the Indian chiefs for his sacrifices in their 
cause, Williams fled from his home in Salem in mid-winter, to escape 
deportation, and sought shelter beneath the hospitable roof of Massasoit 
in Warren during fourteen weeks. The grateful sachem gave to the refu- 
gee a tract of land on the eastern shore of the Seekonk river by the side 

*Nears History of the Puritans. 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIAKIAII ALLEX. 11 '.I 

of a little cove. After plaiitiiiij; corn there, Williams was iiotilicd hy Gov- 
ernor Wiuslow that this location was within the bonnds of the Massachn- 
setts patent. He was then provided with another tract of land by the In- 
dian chief Canonicus, on the west side of the Seekonk river. l)eyond the 
boundary line of the Massachusetts claim. Here he tlnally settled the new 
colony, which he named " rrovidcnce," as providing a place of refuge 
from injustice and from civil and religious tyranny for the oppressed of all 
the nations of the earth. 

By thus anticipating the Massachusetts Puritans in gaining possession 
of the much coveted Indian lands, their hostility to him and his colonists 
became intensified to such a degree, that all commercial as well as friendly 
intercourse ^vith them was prohibited by penal laws. Williams writes : 
"They intruded upon the Providence settlers in an unchristianly way, 
contrarj' to their own laws and ours." They armed some of the Indians 
to join the ranks of their soldiers in marching across the border of the 
colony to seize Samuel Gorton and his associates at Warwick, and to carry 
them as prisoners to Boston for trial by the chief ministers for alleged 
blasphemy. It afterward appeared to have been a righteous retribution, 
that the arms thus put into the bauds of the Indians to kill Khode 
Islanders, were the first used in King Philip's war against their employers. 

The Plymouth colonists joined the Massachusetts aggressors on the 
east side of Rhode Island, and the Connecticut colonists on the west, to 
seize the intermediate lands included in the Rhode Island patent. They, 
with the New Haven colony, formed an alliance under the title of "the 
Four United Colonies of New England," and while warring against the 
Indians rigidly excluded the Rhode Island colonists from their alliance 
and protection. Arnold says : " The surrounding colonies continued their 
grasping attempts to gain possession of the Indian lands included within 
the Rhode Island patent."* The sole object of the seizure of Gorton's 
lands and of his cattle and furniture was to break up his possession and 
title obtained from Miantonomo. An honest historian of Massachusetts, 
Judge Savage, records: "I regret to acknowledge the belief is forced 
upon me that Miantonomo was condemned to death because he favored 
Gorton and his associates in transferring to them his huuls at Pawtnxet." 
The seizure of Gorton by armed soldiers on the accusation of "blas- 
phemy," was manifestly only a pretence, as evidenced i)y the final result 
of his discharge by a majority of two votes of the commissioners uf the 

♦History of Rhode Island, pp. 379-38.'}. 



120 EHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

other three colonies, after a year's imprisonment, and by the subsequent 
order for him to quit Boston within two liours under penalty of death, 
after he beijan to address the people there, and narrate to them the 
wrongs and ruin inflicted on him by their ministers and magistrates. In 
describing this act of sending a military force to bring Gorton and his 
companions to Boston to be tried for "blasphemy," and then giving him 
only two hours' notice to quit under penalty of death for disobedience, 
Arnold says, page 180 : " The details of this memorable trial remind us of 
the application of a nursery rhyme, as made by the late Archbishop of 
Dublin :— 

'Old Father Long-legs wouldn't say his prayers : 
Take him by the right leg- 
Take him by the left leg- 
Take hhn fast by both legs— 
And throw him down stairs ! ' 

"There, said his Grace, in that nursery verse you may see an epitome of 
the history of all religious persecutions. Father Long-legs refusing to 
say the prayers that were dictated and ordered by his little tyrants, is re- 
garded as a heretic and suffers martyrdom. Who shall say hereafter that 
there is no moral conveyed in Mother Goose's melodies?" 

As a pretence for seizing the lands of the Indians, the Puritans contin- 
ued to trump up pecuniary claims against them, in order to levy execu- 
tions for sale of their property under color of lawful debts due from them. 
On complaint of a neighboring tribe of Mohegan Indians, Arnold says, 
page 275 : "A great wrong was committed upon the Narragansett Indians 
by the Commissioners of the Four United Colonies, by levying a fine of 
five hundred and ninetj'^-five fathoms of wampum-peage as a penalty for 
alleged offences against other Indian tribes; and by then forcing the 
chiefs to mortgage their lands to a joint stock company composed of their 
leading politicians, — Humphrey, Atherton, John Winthrop, Jr., Governor 
of Connecticut, John Hudson, Richard Smith, Amos Kichardson, and 
others. Then, on default of due payment, the Indians were finally com- 
pelled to deliver "formal possession of twig and turf according to 
English law, in the year 16G0." Arnold says they thus - attempted to 
wrench possession of the Indian lands within the Rhode Island charter lim- 
its, in order to gain possession of the whole of Rhode Island. This was 
the foundation of claims persisted in during more than forty years, until 
finally annulled by special royal commissioners." 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIAHIAII ALLEX. 121 

Afterward a Narracransctt sachem, to avenj!;e the dcatli orMiaiitoiiomoby 
the hands of Uiicas, gave notice to the Commissioners of the United Colo- 
nies of his intention to make war on tlie Mohegans. This occasion ottered 
another very favorable opportniiity for destroying both tribes, and getting 
their lands, by joining Uncas with a force of three hundred soldiers, to 
defeat the more powerful Narragansett chief, Pessicus. Pessicus was 
then ordered to appear in Boston, and was fined by the Puritans, as the 
French were fined by the Prussians, for the cost of the war. While in du- 
ress he was obliged to sign an agreement to pay two thousand fathoms of 
wampum witliin two years. Being unable to pay this imposition when 
due, "the Four United Colonies sent Humphrey .Atherton, with twenty 
soldiers, pistol in hand, to obtain payment. He forced his way into his 
wigwam, and seizing him by the hair, dragged him out, threatening instant 
death if any resistance were made."* A conveyance of his land was made 
by Pessicus to Atherton, the agent of the joint stock land company, com- 
posed of John Winthrop, Jr., the Governor of Connecticut, and others of the 
principal colonial rulers. Roger Williams states that this company ottered 
him a share of their profits; and he replied, "that the whole transaction 
was illegal." This same company afterward legally bought lands of the 
Indian sachems and owners at "Boston Neck" in the Narragansett 
country, which was sanctioned by the Rhode Island government. 

The Connecticut colonists profited as mercenary soldiers under Uncas, 
and were paid by him in his title deeds to tracts of land. Trumbull 
states: "Mr. Leftingwell received a conveyance of nearly the whole 
township of Norwich for his services to Uncas." 

King Philip told Mr. John Borden of the wrongs he had suflered, in the 
following words : "After I became Sachem, the English disarmed all my 
people, tried them by their judges for damages done by cattle, there being 
no fences. They assessed damages which they could not pay ; and then 
took their lands. I was seized and confined until I sold tract after tract 
to pay claims for damages, until only a small part of the dominion of my 
ancestors remains. I am determined not to live until I have no country." 
A plan was devised for obtaining possession of all the Indian lands in 
the Narragansett country by the Governor of Connecticut, John Winthrop, 
Jr., by going to England and procuring a new charter for the colony, so 
altered as to include all the territory previously granted to the Rhode 
Island colonists by their royal patent. The Colonial Itecords of Conuec- 

*History of Rhode Island, Arnold, vol. i, p. IW. 
16 



122 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

ticut show, page 581, that John Winthrop, Jr., went to England in 16G2 to 
obtahi a new charter " which should be bounded eastward by the Ply- 
mouth line, and northerly by the Massachusetts line." This proposed 
change of boundary lines, which would have included tiie whole of Rhode 
Island, proved to be too open a disregard of the riglits of Englishmen 
under chartered grants, and Winthrop failed in this attempt. Not dis- 
couraged in zeal forgetting possession of all the Indian lands, the next 
attempt was to get possession of half of Rhode Island with all the lands 
of the Narragansett Indians, by obtaining a new charter and surrepti- 
tiously interpolating an explanatory description of the east boundary line 
of Connecticut. The old Connecticut charter defined the east line to be 
bounded by " Narragansett river," which received its name originally from 
its forming the division line between Connecticut and the Narragansett 
country. The new scheme was to be efl'ected by interpolating after the 
name NarrayanseJt river, this super-added explanation : ^^ commonly called 
Narragatisctt Bay." This bay being twenty-four miles further east than 
the Narragansett river, now known as the Pawcatuck river, this change 
would have brought the whole of the Narragansett lauds within the juris- 
diction of Counecticut. The letters of John Winthrop, Jr., and of his agent 
in London, John Scott, published in xVrnold's History of Rhode Island,* 
reveal the details of the whole plot, and the employment of a '-potent 
gentleman" and actual bribery to accomplish their purpose of obtaining a 
new charter with the King's signature, and with this interpolation. 
Triumphing in this achievement, Connecticut officers were sent to take 
possession of the Narragansett country under this fraudulent reissue of 
the Connecticut charter. Arnold says: "The Atherton Company had 
accomplished their selfish purposes by u baseness that cannot easily be 
surpassed." 

John Clark, the agent in England of the Rhode Island colonists, notified 
them of these proceedings. They appointed their Deputy Governor, 
Joseph Jenckes, to make their protest to the royal council in the following 
\vords : " Through the private and clandestine deception of the agent of 
Connecticut, John Winthrop, Jr., the new Connecticut charter is so 
altered as to bound upon the Narragansett Bay ; and this is done contrary 
to the solemn promise to our agent, Mr. John Clark. "t 

It is stated: "The King was surprised by this interpolation, and com- 
missioners were appointed to rectify the boundary line; so as to nearly 

* Vol. i, pp. 378-383. f R. I- Hist. Coll., vol. iii, p. 206. R. I. Records, iv, p. 276. 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 123 

coincide with the orii-iiial ciiarter lino of Rhode Islancl, which was linally 
continued in 1708 l)y agreement between the two adjacent colonies." 

" The evil that men do lives after them"; and the wrong committed I)y 
the Puritan rulers of New England, in seizing the lands of Pcssicus and 
transferring them to the Atherton Company, was perpetuated by the lat- 
ter in attempting to protit by the sale of a portion of them to forty-live 
families of Huguenots, who were deluded into settling thereon. The 
Atherton Company contracted with a committee of refugees, who had fled 
from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to seek a peace- 
ful asylum in America, where they might freely worship their Creator. 
In "The History of the Huguenot Settlers in Rhode Island" by the Hon. 
E. R. Potter, (recently published by Mr. Sidney S. Rider,) it is stated: 
' The .\therton Company, in the year 1G86, contracted 'to lay out .\ meet 
and Considerable tract of Laud, whereon Each Family shall have a hun- 
dred Acres on payment of twenty-five Pounds.' They were located on 
the border of Narragansett Bay, on hind now constituting East Green- 
wich, and still retaining the name of ' Freuchtown.' They soon built 
twenty-five houses there, and prepared for a church and school-house, 
vineyards and orchards; but after finding that the General Assembly of 
Rhode Island had previously granted the land to others, and that they had 
been deceived in the validity of the claims of the Atherton Company, they 
became discouraged, and suftered greatly Ijy being necessitated to become 
refugees a second time. Some went to New Rochelle, others to New 
York, where they originated 'The French Church,' that long flourished 
there. Philadelphia, Virginia, and South Carolina became the abodes of 
others, where their posterity are respectable inhabitants at the present 
day. Allaire went to New York, Ayrault to Newport, Le Moine (Maw- 
uey), Tonrge, Collin, Totcrtellot, Tourbemtx (anglicised Tarbox), Bom- 
passe (changed to Bninpus and Bump), Ganeau (to Gano), Despcau, 
and a few others, lingered in Rhode Island." The sad breaking up of 
this Huguenot colony, which promised to become a centre of refinement 
and civilization, was lamented by Rhode Islanders. 

Another Huguenot colony at Oxford, in Massachusetts, was in like 
manner broken up by Governor Dudley, who gained experience in Indian 
land speculations by serving on a committee of claims of the Atherton 
Company. It appears that the leading political Puritans in New England 
took an active part in profiting by the seizure of the Indian lands; and 
that Governors Dudley and Stoughton, like Governor Winthrop of Con- 
necticut, made a business of dealing in such acquisitions. Dudley sug- 



124 EHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

gested to the General Court of Massachusetts the feasibility of obtaining 
possession of the Indian lands in the westerly part of the Massachusetts 
Bay patent, from the Blackstone river to the Connecticut river, by pur- 
chase of the tribe of Xipnuick Indians; and was appointed with William 
Stoughton and Robert Thompson, Colonial Agent on Lands, to make the 
purchase. The Colonial records show that they ol)tained a conveyance of 
the whole Nipmuck country, ranch larger than the territory of Rhode Isl- 
and, " for fifty pounds and a black coat," from " Black James," a Nipmuck 
Indian, and Waban and his tribe of Natic Indians. The Committee were 
rewarded by a grant of one thousand acres of the laud each, for their 
efficient services. 

No question was made of the authority, or right of "Black James," or 
of the Natic Indians to sell out all the hunting grounds and homes of the 
adjacent tribe of Nipmuck Indians. 

The next move that appears on record, was the petition of Governor 
Dudley, William Stoughton, a political minister and afterward governor, 
and Robert Thompson, for a grant of eight square miles of these Indian 
lands, containing fortj'-oue thousand two hundred and fifty acres. This 
grant was readily made to them by the General Court of Massachusetts 
in 1682, (constituting the present township of New Oxford in Worcester 
county), on the proposed conditions of "the settlement thereon of an 
orthodox minister and thirty families within four years." 

On being notified of this transfer of their hunting grounds and homes, 
the Nipmuck tribe became exceedingly exasperated, and so hostile to all 
intruders, that the Land Company, composed of Dudley, Stoughton and 
Thompson as copartners, could not induce any ftimilies to remove and 
settle on their grant of land within the stipulated terra of four years. 
They consequently obtained an extension of time for three years longer 
to obtain settlers. 

Failing to find any colonists, who knew the circumstances of the grant 
and the vindictive hostility of the Nipmuck tribe toward all intruders, it 
became necessary for the copartners to look abroad for emigrants, who 
were ignorant of the wrong done to the natives, and of their consequent 
hostility to settlers. The London copartner, Robert Thompson, then had 
recourse to inveigling some of the families of French refugees, who had 
fled thither after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, and were 
seeking a home, where they might peaceably worship their Creator, One 
Isaac Bertrand du Tufieau was found willing to attempt enlisting the 
thirty families required by the terms of the grant. The origin of the 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEX. 125 

Huguenot Colony, which was settled at Oxford, is statrd by one of the 
principal emigrants ; who in after years thus detaih d his losses and snft'er- 
ings in a petition to Governor iShnte :— 

" Your petitioner humbly begs your Excellency graciously to assist him 
in his great necessities. Your petitioner, on the revocation of tlie Edict 
of Nantes, fled to London, where he Avas presented l)y the Treasurer of 
tiie Protestant Church of France to the "Society for the propagation of the 
Gospel among the Indians of New England," of which Mr. Robert Thomp- 
son, the President, offered to install him as a member; and also oftered 
laud in the government of the Massachusetts Bay. Thereupon, one Isaac 
Bertrand du Tuffeau desired your petitioner to assist him, the said Du 
Tufteau, to go over to New England to settle there a Plantation of the 
French Refugees. This your petitioner did, by advancing to the said Du 
TuflV;au the sum of Five hnndred Pounds Sterling." 

"The said Isaac du Tufleau, after arriving in Boston with letters of 
credit from said Major Thompson and your humble petitioner, delivered 
them to his late excellency Joseph Dudley, Esq., and to the Hon. William 
Stonghton, deceased; who did grant to the said Du Tuileau seven hun- 
dred and fifty acres of land at New Oxford conjointly with your peti- 
tioner." (They thus secured the zeal of the agent by giving liim one- 
half of the land, and at the same time a control of the management.) 

"Your petitioner being excited by the letters of said Du Tuffoau, did 
ship himself and family, with servants, and paid to Captains Foye and 
^Vare passages for above forty persons. 

" Your petitioner being arrived at Boston, presented letters from Major 
Thompson aforesaid to the aforesaid Dudley and Stoughton, Esquires; 
who were pleased to grant to your petitioner 1750 acres more; and for 
authentic security, did accompany him to New Oxford, and put him in 
pos>ession of the said tsventy-five hundred acres of land : these he has 
held for better than thirty years last past, and has spent above Two 
Thousand Pounds to defend the same from the Indians ; — who at divers 
times have ruined the said plantation and murdered settlers : — Your peti- 
tioner most humbly represents tliat some of the inhabitants do now dis- 
pute his right and title, for tlie purpose of hindering him from the sale of 
the said plantation ; which puts him to the utmost extremity ; being now 
near eighty years of age, and having several children, and children of 
children depending on him (under God) for subsistence, after having 
spent more than ten thousand pounds towards the benefit of the country 



126 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

in I)nildiiig ships, making nails, and promoting manufacture of stufts, 
hats and resiu. 

"Your petitioner doth most humbly beg your excellency's compassion 
in confirming the said two thousand five hundred acres of land free from 
molestations by the inhabitants and any pretensions of said Du Tuflfeau ; 
who abandoned said plantation, selling out the cattle and other movables 
for his oicn particular use and went to London ; where he died in a 
hospital." 

The following authentic details will show how all these troubles were 
wrongfully brought upon the principal Huguenot settlers, and how the 
whole Huguenot settlement was broken up and repossessed by Dudley 
and his copartners. 

The records of deeds in Suflblk County, Mass., volume xxx, page 2G8, 
show that, on the 24th of May, 1688, Joseph Dudley, William Stoughtou, 
and Robert Thompson signed a deed of twenty-eight hundred and seventy- 
two acres of land, "selected by said Bertrand du Tufleau for himself and 
for Gabriel Bernon within a tract called *Nevv Oxford Village,' on the 
condition of building a corn mill thereon and paying a nominal quit rent 
of forty shillings. New England currency, and with an appended proviso : 
' In case of the relinquishment or abandonment of said lands, this grant 
shall thenceforth cease and be utterly null and void ; and the lands shall 
revert unto the said parties of the First Part, and may be lawfully entered 
upon by them as their former estate.' " 

After the completion of the contract for settling the thirty families and 
building the mill, the record shows, Feb. 6th, 1690, that all the copartners 
of the Land Company except Governor Dudley, duly acknowledged the deed 
before a magistrate, to give it validity; but Governor Dudley withheld 
both his acknowledgment and the delivery of the deed itself, until the 5th 
of February, 1716, — a period of twenty-seven years and nine months 
after it was signed. During all of this time Gabriel Bernon and the 
thirty refugee families were deprived of a title valid in courts of law. 
Trespassers upon the land could not be ejected, and the Huguenot set- 
tlers here, as in Rhode Island, became disheartened without a legal title. 
After waiting in vain for three or four years for Dudley's deed, they began 
to abandon the settlement. Governor Dudley not only withheld his 
acknowledgment and the delivery of the deed, but encouraged others to 
dishearten the French families, and cause them to abandon and desert 
the lands; as appears by his regaining possession of most of the prop- 
erty, mills, and improvements under the clause of the grant providing 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 127 

against abaudoiinient. This dclibcrateli' contrived course of Governor 
Dudley is stated in a remonstrance addressed by Boruou to him, dated 
March 1, 1707, stating: "Mr. Hagborn, your brother, has done his 
utmost to ruin my interest in said Oxford. He lias caused Cooper to 
abandon the old mill, and Thomas Allerton to leave my other house, de- 
claring I had no power to settle them. When I made complaint of this, 
he threatened to drive me from tlie place, myself." " It is notorious that 
the said Ilagborn, your brother, has caused the planks of my granary to 
be torn up and conveyed elsewhere, and ortlered the o.\en to be worked," 
etc. Superadded to this were the continual annoyances of the surround- 
ing families of Nlpmuck Indians, who appear by the remonstrance of the 
French minister, Daniel Bondet, to the General Court, to have been sup- 
plied "with rum without limits, so that they fought like bears with each 
other." The traders from Boston bought the game and furs they took. 
Some of the Indians worked as laborers, and the women gathered berries 
and made baskets and mats for sale. 

It appears " the Selectmen of Woodstock, an adjacent town. Peti- 
tioned the General Court against the sale of Rum by the Traders; to 
prevent the riotous drunkenness, and fightings, until they are brought to 
death's door. There are none here to prevent this woeful conduct." 

The Massachusetts rulers having annulled the power of the sachems to 
maintain order and justice, by granting their lauds to the Dudley Land 
Company, they were left to themselves without any magistrate to restrain 
them, and literally lawless. Beruou petitioned Governor Dudley, as the 
ruling member of the Land Company, as well as of the Massachusetts Bay 
Company, for his aid and influence in restraining the Indians, and only 
received a letter in reply, dated July 7th, 1702, including the commission 
of a captain at Oxford, with orders to "take care to arm the people, and 
garrison them in your own house, with a palisade." To quiet the fears 
of the French settlers at Oxford, Beruon built a strong fort, partly of 
stone, the ruins of which remain to this day. The alarm at this time 
was caused by the exodus of most of the Indian families to another 
distant place. That French emigrants were able to cope with the Indians 
of America is manifest by their wonderful success in living among the 
uatives-from Quebec to the river Mississippi, where they esta])lished 
themselves permanently before New England was settled. It is to be 
remembered, too. that when the Johnson family was murdered on Ber- 
uon's plantation in 1G96, the power of the New England Indians had 
been nearly annihilated by the war and death of King Philip in 1G76, 



128 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

twenty years before, aud by the extermination of tlie Narragansetts and 
other tribes; so that we have reason to believe that this Huguenot colony 
in Massachusetts was not broken up by the Indians, but like the Huguenot 
colony in Rhode Island, by the fraudulent conduct of the Puritan ruler. 

Although the border Indians of Canada, during the war between France 
and England, sent scalping parties to devastate the frontiers of Maine 
and New York, yet there is no authentic account of their penetrating so 
far south as Oxford. If the Nipmuck Indians, excited by rum, riotously 
killed one another, it is not surprising that they may have murdered a 
family living among them. At the time of the abandonment of Oxford 
there was no Indian war to threaten the settlers with special danger. 
This belief is confirmed by the statement of the French minister at Ox- 
ford, Daniel Bondet, in his communication to the General Courtof Massa- 
chusetts, as follows : " The Inhabitants know that all the disturbances 
that have been in this plantation have happened because some people give 
the Indians drink without limit. We most humbly supplicate that you 
give orders to stop this; which puts us in great danger of our lives." 

This danger of their lives, by the neglect of the Puritan rulers, and 
the withholding of their title to their land by the Governor for twenty- 
seven years and nine months, are sufficient reasons for the dispersion of 
the Huguenot colony at Oxford 

A touching account is given by George T. Daniels, Esq., of the final 
departure of the body of the colonists from their homes at Oxford : — 

" Tradition says, early In the morning of the day of their departure, 
each family bade adieu to its plantation and home, and then assembled at 
the church for a season of worship. Next they repaired to the burying 
ground, to take leave of the graves of departed friends. Finally rejoin 
ing in a procession, they went away over the rough forest road to 
Boston." 

" On that August morning in 1696 the scene of leave taking at this 
sacred spot may be imagined. As we look westward across the meadows, 
the lonely houses appear with their closed doors and blank windows. 
Near at hand stands the rude chapel, where just now the farewell songs 
and prayers have been offered up. In the middle foreground are the 
graves of the dead; and, here and there, friends bending tearfully over 
them."— " We shall have to look far in New England history to find an 
incident more full of dramatic interest and genuine pathos than this." 

Describing the conduct of Governor Dudley in withholding the deed of 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIArjAH ALLEN. 129 

the lands at Oxford nearly twentj'-eight years, Mr Daniels remarks : " It 
will be remembered the deed was drawn May 24, IGSS, probably on the 
completion of the contract to settle the thirty families. Two days after 
the date of the receipt for building the mill, we find two of the grantors 
acknowledging the deed before a magistrate; but still it was not 
delivered Years passed. The first colony flourished awhile and became 
extinct; the second was begun and continued five years, was abandoned 
and lay waste for nine years." * Then, in 1712, Governor Dudley and the 
lieirs of William Stoughtou, the surviving copartners of the Land Com- 
pany, accomplished their purpose in taking possession of all the lands, 
with improvements, except the portion on which Bernou had kept ten- 
ants for securing uninterrupted possession. They issued "A Proclama- 
tion." declaring that : " Having established a number of French llefugees, 
who have since deserted the place, we do hereby offer to thirty English 
Families that shall settle thereon, all the lands of the said village, except 
what is held by possession ot Mr. Bernou." "Then the thirty English 
families came in. took the places of the thirty original French families; 
and Bernou surrendered to them all his rights to the mills." t 

After the departure of the French families, it appears that Beruon 
struggled to preserve the possession of his houses and land adjacent, by 
keeping two tenants thereon. To break up also this remaining claim by 
twenty years' possession, Governor Dudley wrote a letter to Bernon, 
dated May 20, 1707, threatening to " turn out of the place your two ten- 
ants, if you do not remove them yourself"; — with the obvious intent of 
breaking up his continuous possession, that the plantation might revert 
to the grantors, under the clause of abandonment. 

After narrating the hard-handed dealing of Dudley, Mr. Daniels says : 
" We cannot avoid the conclusion, that in business matters Bernon had 
more than his equal in Governor Dudley." J 

* Page 112. t Probably to secure tlie acknowledgment of Dudley. 

t Page 113, " Huguenots in the Nipmuck Country." The unscrupulous conduct of Gov- 
ernor Dudley, as a predominant Puritan leader and a crafty lawyer, is adverted to by the 
liistorian, Bancroft, (vol. iii, pp. 99-100), as remarkable for "profound sellishuess." He 
was denominated " a wolf," and Rancroft calls him " Slassachusetts' own apostate son." 
Cotton Mather, who at first admired him for his efficiency in sustaining the ecclesiastical 
power, and who promoted his appointment to the office of Governor, after finding him 
to be too selfish, sets liim down in his private diary as "A wretch."— (Massaclmsetts 
Historical Collections.) He addressed a letter to him January 20th, 1707, charging him 
with " an unhallowed hunger for riches"; with "setting up a reign of bribery, which I 
know you have been guilty of." "The horrible trade carried on at the castle reaches to 
17 



130 EIIODE ISLAXD HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

He continues: "At last, after Beniou's hopes and expectations had 
been again and again disappointed, and he had grown old, and from lack 
of means unable to assist the settlement further, on Feb. 5th, 1716, nearly 
twenty-eight years after the deed was written, it was acknowledged by 
Dudley, and passed over to hlra." This was done only after Dudley had 
been deposed by the king and deprived of all further ability to exercise 
the authority of a Governor to shield his duplicity as a man. 

After describing his conduct in the " History of the Huguenots in the 
Nipmuck Country," Mr. Daniels remarks : " We can hardly withliold our 
sympathy from Bernon"; "Oxford, as a town, never questioned the 
rights of Bernon." 

After yielding up the legally executed deed to Bernou, Dudley next 
endeavored to regain the grant at a nominal price, by deterring pur- 
chasers from buying it. So effectually did his agents at Oxford exert 
themselves, that Bernon, in despair, appealed to the sympathies of 
Dudley's son, in a letter dated October 20th, 1720, as follows: "Sir, 
I entreat you to assist me in my petition to His Excellency Governor 
Shute and the General Court, to sustain my title to the Oxford lands. I 
can make it appear by Major Buor, that when he would have bought my 
plantation, they told him not to do it; that my title was nothing worth." 
"I see myself about ruined by such hostility; I entreat you, sir, to aid 
me in obtaining the assistance of the Governor, your father, that I may 
sell the lands." He also made efforts to counteract adverse influences by 
obtaining testimonials in Boston from his "fellow Huguenots, certifying 
the fixcts of his paying valuable considerations for the estate, and of his 
title by possession." Among the twenty or more signers appear the 
names of J. Boioduin, Sigourney, Daille, and Faneuil, who married 
Bernon's sister. At last, on the IGth of March, 1725, a sale of what was 
left of the original grant was made to Thomas Mayo, Samuel Davis and 
William Weld for twelve hundred pounds, and thus the Huguenot Colony 
at Oxford ended. 

That religious freedom, the boon sought for by the Huguenots, did not 
exist in Boston, where Bernon resided while establishing the thirty fami- 
lies of refugees at Oxford, he appears by his diary to have early realized. 

the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth," (pp. 130, etc.), adding : " The Attorney-General, your 
son, has done infamous things in this way." Dr. Increase Mather charges him with 
gross duplicity, and tells him : " Some you have promoted will say you are the falsest 
man in the world."— {Mass. Hist. Coll., I. .Series, vol. iii, pp. 127-8.) 
These are samples of a few of the charges made against Dudley by his cotemporaries. 



ADDRESS OF ZACHAEIAH ALLEX. 131 

The same intolerance that had shipped back to England the two brothers, 
Browne, and persecuted non-conformists, was still exercised against 
dissenters. On refusing to paj' a tax for the support of a church which 
he did not attend, and whose services his people did not understand, it 
appears b^- his diary : "They seized, (among other property), my wife's 
riding hood and my leather breeches" to support Puritanism. In this 
way he took occasion to make an early protest against taxation for 
religious sects, and against the union of Church and State. This protest 
has been in after times sustained by the people of the United States in the 
first amendment of the national Constitution, and afterward by the people 
of Massachusetts, in 1834, by the adoption of a Bill of Rights by a popu- 
lar vote, in the year 1832. 

This independent course marked him for a dissenter at once, and 
incurred the hostility of both the ecclesiastical and civil rulers, causing 
not only a forfeiture of sympathy for his sufierings as an exile for his 
fiiith, but also of his claim to civil rights in his adopted country. This 
determined his removal to Newport, Rhode Island, This second exile 
riveted the hostility to him, and to the Huguenot colony at Oxford. 
At one time, so inveterate were the feelings of the Puritans toward 
the Rhode Island Colonists, that all commercial intercourse was pro- 
hibited with them. One of the earliest acts of the Rhode Island Colonists 
was a treaty with the Dutch at Manhattan for a supply of necessaries. 
To get rid of the thirty families of non-conforming Huguenots, Dudley 
and his associates issued the proclamation for " Thirty English Families 
to take the places of the thirty French families."' At that time Indians 
and Rhode Islanders stood on a par in the estimation of the Puritans 
of Massachusetts Bay, neither having any right which was respected 
by them. 

After the arrival of the aged Huguenot in Rhode Island, Mr. Arnold 
states: "To the persevering piety and untiring zeal of Gabriel Ber- 
non, the first three Episcopal churches in Rhode Island owed their 
origin,"* viz. : Trinity Church in Newport, the Narragansett Church, and 
St. John's Church in Providence. 

While history shows that the progress of civilization is evidenced by a 
corresponding progress in the arts of peace and war, from the age of 
stone to that of bronze, of iron, steel, gunpowder and steam, history 
does not show that christian virtues and beneficence have correspondingly 

* Volume ii, pages "5-116. 



132 RHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

kept pace with modern civilizatiou. In the language of Roger Williams : 
"A depraved appetite for acquisitions of great tracts of land in this 
wilderness is one of the gods of New England, which the Most High will 
punish." The punishment is speedily brought about by the reaction of 
the animal instinct for self-preservation, which exacts prompt vengeance 
for wrongs, and renders the ways of transgressors proverbially "hard." 
The millions of losses by the war of the rebellion, as stated by President 
Lincoln, were the equivalent of the unrequited toil of slaves; and "every 
drop of blood drawn by the lash, is compensated for by one drawn by the 
sword." The robbery and murder of the Indians by the Plymouth 
settlers cost them the lives of half their number by starvation, which 
might have been saved by friendly intercourse in obtaining a supply from 
the Indians; and the wrongs done by the Four United Colonies of New 
England to the natives, cost them the lives of more than fourteen hundred 
of the settlers and millions of dollars in losses of property, besides the 
fears and anguish of anticipated vengeance from lurking foes. It was 
the wrong committed by the Puritan leaders, in robl)ing Pessicus of his 
Narragansett lands, "pistol in hand," as described by Arnold, and by 
transferring them to the Atherton Company, that ruined the forty-five 
families of the Huguenot Colony in Rhode Island; and the similar 
transaction in robbing the Nipmuck Indians and granting their lands to 
political leaders, enabled them to inveigle thirty families of French 
refugees in London to come to Oxford to fultill the conditions for holding 
possession of tlie Indian lauds, with a like disastrous result. 

The bold enterprise and vigorous action of our Puritan ancestors would 
have proved more successful, with less of trouble and suftering, had they 
adopted for their guidance the Christian instead of the Jewish code. 

History has not been silent as to their merits, in making tlie wilderness 
to blossom as the rose. We now note their frailties, and the barbarous 
cruelties of the religious persecution they practiced, only as far as 
necessary to take warning from their example. 

As said by Nathaniel Hawthoi'ne : — " While thanking God for having 
given us such ancestors, each successive generation may thank Him not 
less fervently for being one step farther from them in the march of ages." 
In accordance with this historical estimate, Mr. CharlesSumner advised, 
in an Address to the City Authorities of Boston: "Cease to vaunt of 
what you have done, and of what has been done for you ; and learn to 
walk humbly, and think meekly of yourselves." 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIARIAH ALLEX. 133 



STATE OK CIVILIZATIOX, CUSTOMS AND JIODES OF LIVING OK THE INDIANS 
IN NEW ENGLAND. 

The earliest accounts of tlie natives of North America show that they 
were an agricultural people, and lived in villages in a rnde state of civili- 
zation. The first exploring party of the Plymouth settlers found their 
houses furnished Avith supplies of corn, beans, tobacco, and other pro- 
ducts of agriculture, and with rude materials for manufacture. As previ- 
ously noticed, the Plymouth settlers first robbed the Indians of corn, and 
then were furnished by them with seed corn and instructed how to culti- 
vate it. The settlers of Hartford, in Connecticut, obtained a supply of 
corn when destitute during the first year after their arrival, by sending a 
sloop around to Narragansett Bay to purchase a cargo from Canonicus. 
These facts indicate that the natives of New England relied on agriculture 
as well as on hunting and fishing for their support. 

The attempts to produce wheat on the sea-board of New England have 
not proved successful on account of the open winters in the vicinity of 
the warm water of the Gulf Stream. Consequently Indian corn still con- 
stitutes the principal cereal cultivated in New England. 

AGKICULTU15E OF THE INDIANS. 

The system of agriculture pursued by the Indians is described by Roger 
Williams as being "a social and loving way of breaking up the laud for 
planting corn. All the men, women and children of a neighborhood join 
to help speedily with their hoes, made of shells with wooden handles. 
After the land is broken up, then the women plant and hoe the corn, 
beans, and vine apples called squash, which are sweet and wholesome ; 
being a fruit like a young pumpkin, and serving also for bread when corn 
is exhausted." This account shows that our familiar " squash" is by 
nature and name a native of Rhode Island. Williams says : " For winter 
stores the Indians gather chestnuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, and acorns; the 
latter requiring much soaking and boiling. The walnuts they use both 
for food and for obtaining an oil for their hair. Strawberries and whortle- 
berries were palatable food freshly gathered ; and were dried to make 
savory corn bread." Wood states in his "New England Prospects": 
"The Indians excel our farmers in keeping the ground clear with their 
clam-shell hoes, and hoes made of the shoulder-blades of the moose, as if 
it were a garden rather than a cornfield. They do not sufter a choking 



134 EHODE ISLATfD HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

weedto advance its audacious liead above tlieir infant corn." Williams 
says: "The agricultural labors were mostly imposed upon the women; 
as was also the toil of carrying the burthens of game and tish, taken by 
their husbands. In the annual removals of their wigwams from the win- 
ter residences in sheltered valleys and dense cedar swamps, to the vicinity 
of their cultivated fields, the wives carry the burthens of the mats and 
furniture." Williams says : '• They are the caterers for their husbands, 
lugging home deer and other game for belly timber; for a husband will 
leave a deer to be eaten by wolves rather than impose the load on his own 
shoulders." He adds : " The mothers, in addition to other burthens, carry 
about their infant pappooses, wrapped in a beaver's skin and tied to a 
board two feet long, and one foot broad, with its feet heeled up to its 
back. The face is left exposed to the cold winds. The mother carries 
about with her the pappoose when only three or four days old; even when 
she goes to the clam beds and paddles in the cold water for the clams." 
Truly the lot of woman was hard in uncivilized life. 

In a Canadian Indian village, which I visited in 1820, I saw several pap- 
pooses bound to boards set on end and leaned against the side of a cabin, 
while the mothers made a call within. Wliile I was curiously regarding 
them, a dog came along, and, from a curiosity like my own to ascertain 
what they were, ran up to smell of their unprotected faces. Having no 
use of hands or feet for self defence, all the pappooses could do was to 
wink and yell when the dog's nose approached their faces. The owners 
speedily came out to the rescue. During twelve or fifteen months after 
birth the pappooses are kept most of the time (like the Italian babies) 
bandaged by swaddling clothes. 

INDIAN HOUSES. 

The Indian houses discovered by the Plymouth settlers are described in 
Mourt's Journal : " They are made round, like an arbor, with long young 
saplings stuck in the ground and bended over, covered down to the 
ground with thick and well wrought mats. The door, about a yard high, 
is made of a suspended mat. An aperture at the top served for a chimney, 
which is provided also with a covering of a mat to retain the warmth. 
In the middle of the room are four little crotchets set in the ground, sup- 
porting cross-sticks, on which are hung what they have to roast. Around 
the fire are laid the mats that serve for beds. The frame of poles is 
double-matted ; those within being fairer " 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 135 

Williams says : " The frames of their houses, constructed of poles, are 
set in the ground by the men. Then the womeu cover them with coarse 
mats, and line the inside with embroidered mats, like a fair show of hang- 
ings with us. The mat hung before the opening of the door is lifted aside 
on entering," — like the ancient doors of classic Greece and Rome. 

To protect these frail houses from the cold blasts of winter, they are 
removed to sheltered valleys or to dense cedar swamps ; wherein they 
also made their forts, secured by wet ditches. It was to one of these 
cedar swamps that the Narragansett Indians retreated, and were therein 
surrounded and exterminated by the four confederated New England colo- 
uies; who excluded the Rhode Island people from their confederacy, and 
purposely left them exposed to extermination by the exasperated Indians. 

Williams says : " The Indian houses are removed in a few hours in the 
summer to the vicinity of the cultivated fields; so that on returning at 
night to lodge at one of them, it was gone, and I was necessitated to sleep 
under an adjacent tree." "Their houses are kept warm by fires during 
the night as well as the day, for avoiding the necessity of warm clothing. 
Instead of shelves and closets they have baskets to contain their house- 
hold stufi"; and their stores of corn are contained in great hempen bags, 
capable of holding five or six bushels. They paint their valuable deer 
and moose skins ornamentally with figures in various colors. The Indian 
women are ingenious and skillful in braiding mats of flags and corn 
husks." 

I remember several old Indian women who went around to re-seat flag- 
bottomed chairs with neatness and dexterity, and to sell ornamented bas- 
kets and mats. 

INDIAN CLOTHING, 

In Summer and Winter, and in their warmed houses, the Indians, as de- 
scribed by Williams, " wear aprons after the pattern of their and our first 
parents ; they have also fur skins on their backs, capable of being readily 
wrapped about thera. A coat or mantle, interwoven curiously with bright 
colored feathers, is to them what a velvet mantle is to us." 

The female children, from their birth, as said by Williams, " they in a 
modest blush cover with a little apron of a hand breadth." * 

* Under the more fervent heat of the torrid zone, the Mexican Indians similarly dispense 
with superfluous clothing, according to the narrative of a traveller, who describes a mod- 
em Aztec belle "reposing in a hammock, with no other attire than an elegant diamond 
ring." 



13G ERODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Williams says "the young Indian virgins wear their hair falling down 
bashfully over their foreheads and eyes," similar to the present fashion of 
"banging" the hair. Williams testifies to " the always modest behavior 
of the Indian girls and women in all circumstances of life." 

Winslow writes : " On visiting the neighbouring Indians near Plymouth, 
the women were induced to sell us their coats from their backs, and then, 
with much shame-faceduess, tied leafy boughs about them. Indeed, they 
are more modest than some of our English women are." "To preserve 
their fur skins from injury by wet in raius, they economically prefer to wet 
their own naked skins." 

INDIAN MARRIAGES, AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS. 

Williams describes the social relationships of the natives as follows : 
" The Indians generally have only one wife; although there is an induce- 
ment to have more, for the profit of their labor. The loss of the labor of 
daughters to parents is compensated for by customary presents from hus- 
bands, as was done in Israel." 

Arnold states : "During all the Indian wars the English women, when 
captured, were uniformly treated with respect, and in not a single instance 
was violence offered to their persons. Inviolable protection was given 
with chivalrous honor." 

The constant labor and anxiety to procure the means of daily subsist- 
ence so continually occupied the time and strength of the men and women, 
that little leisure was left for the idle dissipation and immoralities that 
characterize civilized society in modern times. 

DOMESTIC LIFE AMONG THE NATIVES OF THE INTERIOR. 

The abundance of food from the shores and fisheries of Narragansett 
Bay afforded resources to the natives not available to the interior tribes, 
whose principal supply of food was derived from hunting. An early ex- 
plorer of the colder regions of the Northwest, occupied by the tribes 
mainly dependent on the chase for subsistence, gives a graphic account 
of the toilsome aud anxious life of the fathers and mothers having families 
of children to provide for. The father is described as ever anxious, during 
the long northern winters, to obtain deer and other wild game. " He goes 
out at the first gleam of morning light to traverse the snowy forests in pur- 
suit of game, and continues roaming until late in the evening ; often return- 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAII ALLEX. 137 

ing unsuccessful to his disappointed and faitliful wife. Slie liindly cheers 
him when thus fatigued and cold, draws ofl" his moccasins, — perhaps wet and 
stiileued with frost, — and then rubs his feet to restore circulation. She puts 
away his bow and arrows, and quietly takes a seat by his side in front of 
the fire. Having no means of satisfying his hunger and that of the family 
of children, by cooking the expected game, to soothe him she hands him 
some water to drink and his pipe to smoke. Then his children gather 
around him lovingly, and a little one climbs on his knee to hear about his 
hunting wild animals. He tells them he has walked all day long through 
the woods, but the Great Spirit has sent no deer in his way. To-morrow 
he might get plenty for them all. Then they retire cheerless, and creep 
beneath their coverings of skins and furs. The careful wife remains to 
dry the moccasins and leggings before the fire, and desolately listens to 
the plaintive tones of the voice of her husband while attempting to sing 
himself to sleep at midnight, and to obtain rest and strength for renewed 
toils at the dawn of day." 

The Indians of the far West had advantage of abuudance of buflalo in 
their annual summer migrations. In the cold northerly regions the 
Mohawks obtained scanty supplies of corn from agriculture, and uncertain 
supplies of game, and consequently, often suffered from destitution, as 
described by Roger Williams : '• Up in the West, two, three and four hun- 
dred miles from us, the Moliawks mix the bark of trees with animal fat to 
satisfy the cravings of hunger, and at times are necessitated to become 
cannibals. For this reason they are called ' man-eaters,' from the Indian 
name Moho, I eate." 

A kind of tuber, growing in the ground like potatoes at the extremities 
of roots of a shrub, and denoted " ground nuts," varying in size from that 
of a gooseberry to a hen's egg, aflbrded a palatable food when boiled or 
roasted. 

HOSPITALITY OF THK INDIANS. 

Whatever food they obtained was freely shared with less fortunate 
neighbors; and whoever came in during their meals was invited to par- 
ticipate, even when there was not enough for themselves. Williams says : 
" When I have arrived in the night the men and their wives have risen to 
prepare refreshments for me." When banished by the Massachusetts 
Puritans into the wilderness in mid-winter, he was hospitably received 
under the roof of Massasoit in Warren, until the return of Spring. Then 
18 



138 RHODE ISLA2»fD HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

the kind old chief gave him laud for a plantation in Seekonk, near the 
cove of Ten Mile River. There he planted corn in May, but was warned 
again to leave the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. He then weut around 
to another place at the mouth of Moshassuck river, which was freely pre- 
sented to him by the Narragansett chief Canouicus. There he founded 
the colony of Providence Plantations, where we now are. 

The debt of gratitude due to the good old chief Massasoit as a benefiic- 
tor to the founder of our State has recently been recoguized by the people 
of Warren, who are engaged iu erecting a monument to him.* 

When justly and kindly treated it appears that the Indians on the 
shores of Narragansett Bay have been friendly and gentle toward the 
European settlers. Williams says : "I have been gratefully requited for 
kindnesses rendered to Indians, many years after I had forgotten them. 
They lovingly greet the English iu the woods on meeting them, and also 
each other, by the word ' Netop,'— friend." "They enjoy stopping to 
chat with one another in their forest paths, and will strike a fire with 
stones or sticks and take a smoke together." This description of their 
friendly meetings affords a contrast to their unfriendly meetings with the 
maritime adventurers from Europe, " who visited every convenient port 
of the present United States to capture Indians for slaves,"— as affirmed 
by Mr. Bancroft, and as narrated by Morton in the History of Plymouth ; 
who says the spot where the settlers first met the Indians was called by 
the name of " First Encounter " with the Enemy. 

The Indians had their annual festivals after harvest, corresponding 
with Thanksgiving, which custom may have been the example copied by 
the New England settlers. Williams says: "The Indians showed their 
grateful feelings by shoutings for their bountiful god. Cowtautowit, and 
made general distribution of presents, corresponding with Christmas 
presents with us." They had their social gatherings. The great Council 
House of the Narragansetts was fifty feet in diameter. They delighted to 
assemble in general meetings in temporary structures of arbors, one or 
two hundred feet long. There they had public games and amusements. 
In their public councils they are seated in a circle, commonly around a 
fire, hence denoted " the council fire." They formed several circles to 
listen to the news, and hear debates on business affairs. It appears the 

*In noticing this beneficent work, the editor of a Cincinnati journal remarks : " While 
the people of Rhode Island are preparing a monument for the Indians, the people of Colo- 
rado are preparing Indians for a monument." 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 139 

women attended some of these council debates, and influenced decisions. 
After deciding trials of wrong doers, their punishments were inflicted by 
the hands of the Sachems as the executive rulers. 

KELIGION. 

The Indians believed in the existence of a Great Spirit, denominated 
Manitou, and iu an all-pervading difl'usion of a portion of this intelligence 
in living animals, and even in lifeless material objects, somewhat corres- 
ponding with Greek and Roman mythology. Williams satirically remarks : 
"Like the Papists, they have their He and She Saints, as Saint Patrick, 
Saint Dennis. They have their Fire God, who leaps in a spark out of a 
stone, to warm a poor Indian, to cook his food, and burn him when he 
offends." " They have a good custom not to disturb any one iu their relig- 
ious worship." What a blessing it might have been had the first settlers 
of New England adopted this Indian custom? 

A contentment with their humble lot prevailed, according to Williams's 
account of their creeping thankfully at night into a coat of fur skins, 
counting it a felicity to be snug therein. 

INDIAN LANGUAGES. 

It is stated the Indian languages were remarkably copious, regular in 
inflections, and diversified by combining words together. Four dialects 
existed in North America, — the Esquimaux and Delaware, spoken on the 
sea-coast, the Iroquois in the interior. The Delaware language was 
spoken throughout several hundreds of miles north and south of Rhode 
Island. 

To open missionary communications with the natives, Eliot translated 
the Bible into the Indian language of New England, with unwearied zeal; 
and Roger Williams wrote an Indian dictionary, which he entitled "A Key 
to the Languages of America." and it now constitutes one of the most in- 
structive works relating to Indian history. 

INDIAN MANUFACTURES AND TRADES. 

The Narragansett Indians are described by Wood, an early historical 
writer, as being " the most numerous as well as the most industrious and 
richest of the Indian tribes. They catch beavers, otters and musquashes 
for furs to sell to the English, and receive commodities which they sell to 



140 KHODE ISLAND HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

remote Indians for double profit. They seeli rather to grow rich by indus- 
try than to become famous in war. Some malce bows and arrows, wooden 
dishes, and earthen vessels and pipes. Some on the Bay shore store up 
shells in summer for making wampum money in winter. They dressed 
the skins of animals to serve as leather (commonly produced by tanning) 
by using the brains of animals instead of oak bark. Their snow shoes 
were copied by European settlers for their usefulness " 

"Narragansett," says Wood, "is the manufactory of all kinds of rude 
merchandize for the Indians of those parts, especially great stone pipes 
holding a quarter of an ounce of tobacco. With th.e steel awl-blades they 
obtain from the Dutch and English they perforate the stems with such ex- 
cellent art in imitating English pipes of green stone, that it is hard to dis- 
tinguish the difference. Some of the stone pipes carved are so massy 
that a man might be hurt by one of them falling upon him ; and swung by 
the stem might be sufficient to beat out the brains of an ass." He adds 
this moral reflection : " How many men's brains are smoked out, and asses' 
brains smoked in by tobacco pipes in England." Another old writer adds : 
<' They account it odious for boys to smoke, while our young men often 
smoke, not being so well trained." 

The Calumet of Peace is described by Hennepin as " a large tobacco 
pipe of red, black or white stone, with the bowl finely polished, and a 
stem or reed of cane two feet and a half long, adorned with bright col- 
ored feathers, interlaced with women's hair." "This pipe is a safe con- 
duct among all the allies of the nation, which furnishes the calumet as a 
symbol of peace." 

The arrow-heads, hatchets, and other stone implements found in Ohio, 
are described by Mr. Atwater to be precisely similar to those found in all 
the Atlantic States. Plates of copper, copper pipe tube, and silver arti- 
cles have been found in the works of the mound builders of the Missis- 
sippi valley. These relics are supposed to have been procured from the 
copper mines of Lake Superior, and probably some of the pots and earthen 
vessels were obtained from the spoils of the Aztecs in Mexico by these 
northern invaders. 

The material of flint stone for arrow-heads, I believe, is found nowhere 
in New England except on the northern border of Modsehead Lake in 
Maine. Thei-e the precipitous Mount Kineo, two thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, is composed of a vast mass of pure flint stone. 

" Tomahawks " were originally made somewhat resembling the South 
Sea Island clubs, terminating in a heavy knob ; and flint hatchets were 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 141 

oi'iginally used in warfare before the introductiou of the steel implements 
by Europeans. 

THE INDIAN MODES OF TRAVELLING, AND TRANSMITTING INTELLIGENCE. 

"For speedily transmitting important intelligeuce the Indian messen- 
gers run swiftly ; and at every town fresh messengers are speeded away 
to reach the chief's house. When within a mile the messenger commences 
hallooing, and all who hear begin to halloo; whereby a great concourse is 
soon gathered to hear the news; for all men have an itching desire for 
news." Williams continues : "It is admirable to see what smooth paths 
their naked, hardened feet have worn in trails leading through the wilder- 
ness, even among stony places. Guides and porters are found for hire to 
conduct to remote hunting-houses for lodging in the vast forests at night. 
I have often been lost in the woods and guided by them. The Indians 
are quick of foot, being from boyhood trained to practice running. To 
save the wear of shoes they often carry them on their backs. I have 
known Indian messengers to run four score to an hundred miles in a 
summer day, and return in two days afterwards." 

These feats of pedestrianism excel modern walking matches, when it is 
considered that the Indian trails were uneven forest pathways. They 
demonstrate that men can walk one hundred miles per day. Williams 
states: "Notwithstanding their agility the natives covet the possession 
of horses more than of cattle and cows; preferring," as he quaintly says, 
" the comfort of ease to their legs to that of the belly from milk." 

"They are punctual to their appointments, and have sometimes 
charged me with a lie for failing to keep time punctually with appoint- 
ments." 

"In conversation they have often asked me why came the Englishman 
here? Is it because you want wood for fire? When they have burnt up 
the wood around them, they are faine to remove to a fresh place to get 
more." 

INDIAN CANOES AND FISHERIES. 

In traversing the rivers as well as forests the natives were active and 
expert ; ^nd even adventured on the ocean waves in fleets of canoes. 
Williams affirms: " They had naval conflicts of thirty or forty canoes ou 
each side. I have divers times been aided by them in crossing rivers and 



142 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

bays. They harpoon sturgeons and kill bass with arrows from their 
canoes, after cooping them in some little cove or river by nets." 

The Narragansetts made canoes of large chestnut, white wood, and 
trunks of pine trees, hollowed out by stone adzes and chisels, and by 
burning out the middle part and scraping the charred surface. To accom- 
plish the labor ten or twelve days and much skill are requisite, and conse- 
quently a large " dug out" canoe was prized as valuable property. The 
Canadian and eastern Indians had recourse to the thin sheets of bark 
stripped from the peculiar kind of birch which abounds in those regions, 
and serves to form sheets that were sewed together, and rendered water 
tight by turpentine or pitch. These sheets being sewed by withs and 
deer-sinews to ribs of bended hoops of wood, were so light as to be read- 
ily transported from the sources of adjacent rivers across ridges, denoted 
'* carrying places"; so that there were thus established regular lines of 
communication by water for transferring furs and food, (like those of 
modern civilization,) by " the coureurs des bois." 

Father Hennepin explored the wild regions of the West by journeys of 
thousands of miles, as he states, "in small canoes made of bark of birch 
trees, carrying nothing with me but a blanket and a mat of rushes, which 
served as bed and quilt." 

"Williams says : " The sea-board Indians made their dug out canoes suffi- 
ciently large for carrying forty men, who propelled them by paddles, and 
by sails made of mats upheld by poles for masts. In them they crossed 
the sea to Block Island. 

INDIAN MONEY, OK WAMPUM-PEAGE. 

The currency adopted by the natives of New England to represent inter- 
changeable values, denominated wampum, was manufactured from sea 
shells, somewhat after the Asiatic models of perforated discs of metal, to 
be strung like beads for readiness of handling and counting. The Narra- 
gansett Indians being skillful in making arrow-heads, pots, hatchets and 
other articles of commerce, and having intercourse with the Dutch for 
distributing European commodities among the Indians of the interior, 
appear to have taken the lead in establishing a kind of currency for esti- 
mating values by a common money standard. They gathered the shells in 
summer and employed their leisure time in winter in rounding the pieces 
of shells into little discs, and making small holes through the middle of 
them for stringing them together. The conical apex of the periwinkle 



ADDRESS OF ZACHAEIAH ALLEN. 143 

shell served to facilitate the work of rouuding the edges and making the 
hole through the middle. The circular discs thus made constituted the 
white wampum, and from the facility of manufacture was estimated at only 
half of the value of the dark or blue wampum, made of the central part 
of the quahog shell. When the Dutch furnished the steel awl-blades to 
the natives for perforating the holes through the solid shell, the dark blue 
wampum was more easily made than before. The white wampum was 
estimated at only half of the current value of the black wampum. Both 
were strung on deer's sinews, and estimated at a certain number per foot 
or ftithom. 

Williams says : " Six of the small white beads, with holes to string 
them like bracelets, are current with the English for one penny, and three 
of the black ones, inclining to blue, make an English penny." "The 
white they call Wampum, the black Suckahoc." " When strung or 
wrought into girdles they are denoted Wampum-peage." 

" Before ever the Indians bad awl-blades from Europe they made shift 
to bore holes in their shell money with stone, such as used with wooden 
handles to fell trees." 

In the early history of New England frequent mention is made of pur- 
chases of land, etc., for a certain number of fathoms of wampum ; but I 
have been unable to find a specification of any standard number of shells 
or coins contained on a string of six feet, or one fathom. To obtain an 
estimate of the probable number I had recourse to measuring the thick- 
ness of each disc in the most perfect specimens now obtainable. 

There appears to be a diversity of dimensions of the discs, as might be 
expected from the rude process originally employed to grind them by 
hand on the surfaces of stones. In this respect they are much less uni- 
form than coins from steel dies. Some coarse specimens are found nearly 
half an inch thick, and others about one-fourth and three-sixteenths of an 
inch; and the diameters about five-sixteenths of an inch. To obtain the 
most authentic average dimensions of these little primitive coins I meas- 
ured a fac-simile engraving of "the William Peun Wampum Belt," on 
which there appear to be very nearly five hundred in one fathom; so that 
probably a standard fathom of wampum represented half a thousand 
coined shells. 

The remarkable resemblance between the shell wampum beads made in 
Rhode Island and in the islands of the Pacific ocean, attracted my atten- 
tion. Those made by the South Sea Islanders are very perfect and even 



144 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

ornameiital as strings of beads for bracelets aud necklaces. They also 
are made of black aud Avhite colors; the former being of only one-fourth 
the thickness of the latter, aud of the uniform diameter of oue-fifth of au 
inch, pierced with very small central holes. About eighteen hundred of 
the white shell discs make a string of one fathom, aud nearly four thou- 
sand of the black. The beauty of this fine shell work, with interlaced 
black and white beads fancifully arranged, seems to indicate their use for 
ornament rather than money. 

The black and white shell beads were interwoven on strings, ornamen- 
tally, to form belts and bracelets, which were worn by the men and women, 
and, like diamonds, represented the wealth of the wearer. Captain 
Church gives a graphic account of the belts and circlets of wampum which 
constituted the regalia of King Philip, delivered up by Aiuiwan, after his 
capture. Captain Church states tliat the belts were tastefully wrought in 
black and white into figures of birds and animals, with fanciful border 
designs. Williams describes an elaborate wampum belt woveu of the 
width of several inches, aud valued at more than ten pounds. 

Wood states : " The wealthy natives preserve their wampum with anxiety 
and care as their wealth. The wealthy natives having no strong chests 
for securing this kind of wealth or money, carefully wore their wam- 
pum constantly in the day time. At night they keep it under their heads 
while they sleep." Thus the care of riches were even more burthensome 
to the Indians than to modern capitalists, who have their iron chests aud 
vaults. 

These traits of Indian character for economy and thrift are evidences of 
their capability of taking care of themselves, were they allowed a fair 
chance under the protection of courts of justice and a police, like that 
established in the Briti.sh dominion in Canada, as described in Governor 
Laird's speech to the Indians at Fort McLeod in 1877, in the following 
words : — 

" If you sigu the treaty for the sale of your lauds, every man, woman 
and child will get twelve dollars each, paid to the head of the family ; and 
ever afterwards each Indian will get five dollars. Chiefs will get a suit of 
clothes, a silver medal and flag; and every third year another suit of 
clothes. To every five persons one square mile will be allotted as a re- 
serve, from which all trespassers will be excluded. Roads will be made, 
cattle given, aud potatoes for planting; and as soou as you make a settle- 
ment teachers will be sent to instruct your children." "You all know 



ADDRESS OF ZACHARIAH ALLEN. 145 

you can rely on the Queen's promises being fulfilled, for no promise to you 
has ever been broken." * 

"The Indian chiefs replied : 'Your treatment of us has always been 
good. If you had not sent the Police to our country, bad nieuAvould have 
killed us with whiskey, and what should we all have been this day?'" 

A similar equitable system has been magnanimously adopted by British 
rulers in Australia. 

By paying each individual for improvements made, and an equitable com- 
pensation for loss of hunting grounds, if the reckless and dissolute fail to 
retain their property, the fault will be their own, and not imputable to the 
rapacity of the political financiers of a great Republic, who place the 
natives under guardianship, and entail their property for the future profit 
of the Republic by removing them from one reservation to another less 
valuable, until they are exterminated by trespassers. While the sons of 
rich white men are purposely left free to squander their inheritance under 
special laws against entailments, tending to perpetuate a money aristoc- 
racy uuiler a democratic form of government, the sons of the Red men 
are strictly restrained from selling their lands, and discouraged from hopes 

*This system of justice and good faith was originally adojjted by the founder of the 
State of Rhode Island in obtaining lands from the Indians, with the result of the most 
kindly intercourse with them, until the Four United Colonies commenced a war of exter- 
mination against them. In a letter to the Commissioners of these Colonies, dated in 176r, 
he explains his just and peaceful intercourse with the natives, as follows : — 

" I mortgaged my house in Salem (worth some hundreds) for supplies of gifts to Massa 
soit, — yea, and to all his; and also to Canonicus and all his, in tokens and presents, many 
years before I came in person to Narragansett. And when I arrived, I was welcomed by 
both of them." " I also bore the charges and venture of all gratuities, which I gave to the 
great Sachems round about us, and to a peaceable and loving neighborhood lay engaged for 
my great charge and travel among them." (Backus, vol. i, p. 94.) After the death of Wil- 
liams, his son stated in a letter : " My father gave away all ; and being ancient, his needs 
must pinch somewhere. He gave to me only about three acres of land. It looked hard, 
that out of so much at his disposal, he should have had so little." Governor Wiuslow, on 
visiting Williams, in Providence, as noticed in a letter written to Major Mason, "kindly 
melted, and put a piece of gold into the hands of my wife for the supply of our necessi- 
ties." 

This self-denying spirit of true christian beneficence was the means of subduing the 
natives to reciprocal acts of kindness, and of breaking up an alliance between the I'equots 
and Narragansetts against the Four United Colonies, which would have swept away nearly 
all the European settlers of New England. In the final war of King Philip he went safely 
amid the army of exasperated warriors, and extorted from them this precious eulogium : 
"You are a good man, and not a hair of your head shall be injured." 
19 



I4() RHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

of bettering their condition by economy and industry. A gradual exter- 
mination of the race is the sure result. 

The Puritan rulers of the Four United Colonies contrived to gain pos- 
session of the much coveted Narragansett lands under the pretence of 
involving the sachems in debt, payable in wampum, their own coin ; and 
then, in default of payment, they levied on their lands by a process of 
civil execution, instead of military conquest; this being a quieter way of 
accomplishing their purpose. As previously noticed, the rulers took 
advantage of inciting Uncas to attack the Narragansetts, and took their 
pay in deeds of lands. Then when the Narragansetts made war in retal- 
iation, the colonists sent three hundred soldiers to arrest him, and then 
fined him for the costs, as the Prussians did the French, and imposed a 
fine of two thousand fathoms of wampum, ecpial to more than two miles 
in length of coins. The poor sachem being unable to produce such a 
quantity, was made to sign a bond and mortgage, and then in default to 
surrender his laud as previously stated. This was truly a Shylock plan 
of procedure; but the injustice was checkid and the proceedings annulled 
by the royal commissioners. 

Calculating the number of white wampum at five hundred to the 
fathom, Pessicus was fined a million of the shell coins, payable at a short 
credit. 

Williams refers to the financial abilities of some of the natives as fol- 
lows : '"Tis admirable how quick the Indians are in casting up great 
munbers, without the help of letters, figures, or pens, by using grains of 
corn. They are subtle in bargains, and will try dift'erent markets, going 
thirty miles to save a sixpence." 

" Some are honest, but most of them will never pay a debt unless fol- 
lowed up to their houses. They partake of the general folly of mankind, 
by running into tormenting debts, not only for necessary, but also for un- 
necessary things " 

The measures of the time of day, were designated by the position of 
the sun in the heavens. The number of days by " suns," of months by 
" moons," and years by " Winter snows or harvests." 

FORMS Ol' INDIAN GOVERNMENT. 

The tribal system of Indian government was necessarily democratic, 
and somewhat paternal. Councils of the people were held for consulta- 
tion, at which it appears the women were sometimes present, on the con- 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIARIAH ALLEN. _ 147 

vej'ance of lands and making treaties. The chiefs rarely acted In making 
laws and regnlating tribal affairs, without convening the people for their 
assent and ratification. Their " ayes and nays " were expressed by pecu- 
liar guttural sounds, corresponding with cheering and the goose-like hiss- 
ings in modern popular assemblies. The executive functions were per- 
formed by the sachems; and also the duties of a sheriff in punishing 
criminals devolved upon them. They did not lack debaters in their discus- 
sions or powivows, and discords occurred like those in our modei'n assem- 
blies of the people. 

MEDICAL PRACTICE OF THE INDIANS. 

The Indians, having no experience with chemical compounds, confined 
their treatment of the sick to herbs and roots in doctoring. As described 
by Mr. Douglas : "Tiie^' pursued the old women's treatment as practised 
in couutry villages in England in ancient times, by using decoctions of 
vegetables for emetics, for cathartics, and sudorifics. The use of steam 
baths ill caves, or beneath mats, by heating stones and pouring water 
thereon, was deemed a health restoi'ing expedient. But with little reli- 
ance on human skill, the superstitious natives placed more hope on the 
spiritual influence of their religious quack doctors, or Powwow men, who 
performed mystical ceremonies over invalids with shoutings and liowl- 
ings, as if to scare away aflSrighted demons of diseases. Their services 
were paid for like lawyers' fees, the amount paid being also in proportion 
to the continuance of vociferations. 

FISHING AND HUNTING. 

The abundance of fish in the Bay, and the wild game on the land, 
formed a principal part of the subsistence of the Narragansett Indians, 
They used nets made of twisted fibres of hemp, and of deer's sinews; 
and fish-hooks made of sliarpened bones of birds and of certain fish bones. 
Williams says : " They were dexterous in using scoop nets and in spear- 
ing fishes in the night by alluring them to the surface by the glare of 
light from burning torches placed in front of their canoes. They were 
successful in catching the several kinds of fish still found in the Bay, and 
known by their Indian names of tautog and scuppaug. Bass, and smaller 
fish called smelt and frost fish were perseveringly sought for by night and 
by day. " They patiently lie down with their nearly naked bodies on the 
cold shores, and wade in icy water to set their nets." 



148 RHODE ISLAND HLSTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The clam-bakes on the shores of Narragansctt Bay Avere as much appre- 
ciated and enjoyed by the natives in former days, as by the present mnlti- 
tudes of excursionists. Williams describes clams as " a sweet kind of 
shell-flsh, readily digged out from the shore-sands at low water by the 
women, and delightfully relished by all Indians for the savory broth made 
by them, which serves instead of salt for seasoning their uassanmp and 
corn bread." 

Williams adds: "The Indian women and English swine go to the 
shores at low water to dig and root out the clams, and are competitors. 
The swine are therefore hated by tiie Indian women." 

"The English have learned to make a dainty dish of the brains of a 
bass, resembling marrow." 

INDIAN COOKERY AND INDIAN 15UF.AD. 

"To kindle a fire for cooking, the natives strike violtMitly together two 
stones, with some punk intervening between them. After kindling a tire, 
they place therein several stones or boulders in a layer; and after becom- 
ing hot the stones are dropped in water containing tlsh or tlesh in a 
wooden vessel, thus causing the water to boil. The soapstone pots were 
in like manner placed in a fire until they became hot, and then the water 
was poured in and the food to be boiled was placed therein." 

The original mode of Indian cookery, by heating stones, is still prac- 
tised by the shore parties at their picnics on the borders of Narragansctt 
Bay. The heated stones are arranged like a pavement on the ground, 
some sea-weed is spread upon them, and then layers of clams, fish, ears 
of corn, potatoes, and other articles of food, are added in successive 
layers, until a little mound is raised, with a thick covering of sea-weed. 
Then a pailful of water, dashed upon the top of it, percolates to the hot 
stones, and produces abundance of steam, that is diffused throughout the 
whole mass. After a suitable time the mound is opened and the contents 
carefully withdrawn and served on the festive board. Some little prac- 
tice is requisite before novices and dainty young ladies can gracefully lift 
the clam from its native shell by the neck, and suspend it on a poise above 
the parted lips, with the face and eyes turned heavenward, as if with pious 
devotion to the idolized clam. 

To reduce the flinty kernels of corn to meal for making bread, the In- 
dians use the stone pestles, such as are here exhibited before you. Previ- 
ously to the introduction of mill-stones, vvpodeu pestles shod with iron and 



ADDRESS OF ZACIIARIAH ALLEN. 149 

lifted by water wheels, were used by the pioneers, and denominated " Stamp- 
ing Mills." The first water-wheel made in Khode Island, soon after the 
arrival of Williams, was for a stamping mill near Steven's bridge on the 
Moshassuck river. The street leading to that place still bears the descrip- 
tive name of " Stamper Street." The water privilege below was given 
by the original proprietors to John Smith in consideration of his building 
thereon a mill for grinding corn. The first mill built in Massachusetts 
was for grinding corn at Plymouth in 1G36, as appears by the colonial 
records. 

The Indians rendered the corn more brittle for being pulverized by pes- 
tles, and at the same time prepared for eating, by parching it in hot ashes, 
and then sifting it out. Like modern "'pop-corn" this parched meal was 
ready cooked for food, and required only to be moisteued with water. 
Williams says : " I have made many a good dinner and supper of parched 
meal, moistened by a spoonful of water from a brook. With no other 
food I have travelled with two hundred Indians an hundred miles ; each 
one- carrying a hollow leather girdle around his waist, or a little basket on 
his back, filled with parched meal." 

This parched meal, kneaded with water, and baked on a hot stone, or 
before a fire, constituted the bread they called " Nokik," — strangely angli- 
cised into No Cake. The unparched meal makes Journey Cake, or Johnny 
Cake. In his description of the mode of making a Johnny Cake, Roger 
Williams omits an essential part of the preliminary process, which re- 
quires the use of boiling water instead of cold water in kneading the meal. 
This knowledge was acquired by me, under peculiar difiiculties, while 
floating down tiie Ohio river from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati on a flat boat 
or ark in 1817, before steamboats were in use there. Our party bou^^ht a 
boat and were their own navigators and cooks. To our surprise and in- 
dignation our flrst Johnny Cake became meal again when baked before 
the fire. To learn the art and mystery, I rowed the skifi" from the flat 
boat to a house on the shore, and there under the instruction of the smiling 
wife of an Ohio farmer, I finished my scientific education in this special 
department. She poured boiling water upon the corn meal, and invited 
me to test the quality by partaking of the cake. Some of the gentlemen 
here present may be as ignorant as I was, and, profiting by this lesson, 
may leave the hall wiser if not better men. 

The introduction, by Europeans, of light metallic kettles, adapted for 
being hung over a fire, afforded desirable fiicilities for convenience of 
transportation, and for more quickly boiling food in traversing wild forests. 



150 EHODE ISLAND HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

An opportunity was aflbrded of inspecting tlie process of cookina; in these 
kettles by a party of Sioux Indians, near the Falls of St. Anthony, in the 
year 1817. A war party, returning from an attack on a tribe of Chippeway 
Indians, had erected their lodges on the banks of the Mississippi river. 
The captain of the steamboat landed a few of us to visit the encampment of 
the painted warriors beneath the shade of the forests. They exhibited a 
surprising spectacle with their peculiar attire, vermillion streaked faces, 
and feathers in their hair. Many of them were gathered around their 
boiling pots .suspended over blazing fires, resembling tlie weird scene of 
the witches' caldron in Macbeth. They severally contributed to the boil- 
ing caldrons such articles as they had procured from the forest and river. 
The whirling ebullition of this boiling compound brought to light succes- 
sively the materials of which the soup was composed ; showing the bill 
of fiire to l)e pieces of meat, tish, and whole turtles, that seemed swim- 
ming amid the. boiling cui-rents. The view of this compound was sufli- 
cient to cure the appetite of a hungry Englishman. 

The lodges were made, by inserting four poles in the ground, about 
twelve feet apart, and by tying their inclined tops together, and then lean- 
ing additional poles to rest against the tops of the four standard poles, 
with the lower ends spread out to a circle at the bottom. Buffalo skins 
sewed together in large sheets were wrapped around the conical frames of 
the poles, and a rope wound spirally' around the outside, like lioops, bound 
them all tightly together. The outsides of the skins were painted with 
figures of animals. Some few presents made to the Indians conciliated 
them to acts of courtesy instead of scalping. One of the stalwart plumed 
wari'iors gallantly advanced toward a beautiful St. Louis belle, and mak- 
ing a formal bow, took an eagle's feather from his hair, and chivalrously 
inserted it in the tresses of the confused and blushing girl. Pausing a 
moment to gaze admiringly upon her, and making another formal bow, he 
slowly turned and strode away to rejoin his wild companions. 

This tribe of Sioux were compelled by the United States goverument to 
pay a penalty to tlie tribe of Chippeway Indians for this assault upon 
them, 

MOURNINGS FOR THE DE.\D. 

That the natives of New England had kindly feelings and affections, was 
manifested by their sensibilities for the death of friends. Williams says : 
" When they come to the grave they lay the body down. Then all join in 



ADDRESS OF ZACHAEIAH ALLEN. 151 

lamentations. I have seen tears rnn down the cheeks of stoutest cap- 
tains as well as of little children. After the body is laid in the grave, 
sometimes personal eflects are deposited witli it, as a solemn sacriflce. 
On the death of his son, I saw the aged chief, Canonicus, as a great sacri- 
flce to hiiTi, burn his residence. Their mourning is continued for months." 
Black appears to have been selected for an emblem of grief, as devoid 
of cheerful radiance and reflection of light, alike by the natives of Europe 
and America. The Indians used soot mingled with oil for consistency as 
a pigment. The memory of the dead was cherished, as manifest by the 
return of the Indians at times to visit and honor the graves of their 
fathers. Now the mourners and their graves have disappeared, except in 
the far West, where the mounds, like the pyramids, have survived as 
memorials of the builders. 

"They grieved; — but no wail from their slumbers may come; 
They joyed : but tlie voice of tlieir gladness is done. 
They died,— aye they died; and we things that are now, 
Who walk on the turf that lies over their brow, 
Who make in their dwellings our transient abode, — 
Meet the changes they met in their pilgrimage road " 

We now occupy their places for our transient abode, as others will soon 
succeed us, and make in our dwellings their equally transient abode. 

These fleeting scenes of continual changes in our pilgrimage road, con- 
stitute the history of mankind. To preserve memorials of the race of 
lied men, who once owned and occupied the pleasant shores of Narraga- 
sett Ba.v, now our enjoyable homes, is a special object aud duty of the 
members of our Historical Society, as has been set forth by our esteemed 
associate, IVIr. Denison : — 

" We, children of a favored day, 
Inheriting their homes, 
Would guard their history from decay, 
And mark their mouldering tombs." 



INDE 



PAGE. 

Alk'ii, Zucluu-iali, Address by on the coiulitions of lilV, liabits and 
customs of the native Indians of America, and tlieir treat- 
ment by the first settlers . '.)7-ir>l 

An early proclamation C.i, (Jo 



Bower, Samnel J., notice of 70, 71 



Charter, amendment of 20 

Committee to disburse State appropriation 20 

Communication from Rev. Frederic Denison 30 

Changes in a hundred years. (>1, (J2 



Donations lo, 14. Id, IS, 10, s.',, L'l;, 30 



(tKXK.\I.()(HKS : — 

Genealogies and Estates in Charlestown, ^lass 53 

Whitney Family, by Stephen Whitney riiomix .J4 

Dunster Family, by Samuel Dunster 5.5 

Russell Family, by John R. liartlctt 55 

Drowne Family, by Henry Thayer Drowne 55 

Cooke Family, by Albert R. Cooke 55 

Tilley Family, by R. Ilannnitt Tilley. 55 

Douglas Family, by Charles II, J. Douglas 55 

20 



154 RHODE ISLAND IIISTOniCAL SOCIETY. 

PACK. 

Hitchcock, Rev. Dr., oration by 08, 09 

Herlitz, Mrs. Louisa Lippitt, letter from lt> 

u o '• •• watch pi'esented to Historical Society, by, .50 



Indepciulence, Declaration of in Providence 64-05 

" commemoration of, 1820 09-73 



Liberty granted Mr. Henry T. Beckvvith to copy an engraving 24 

" " Rev. Mr. Stone to photograph the sword and 

pistols that were owned and used by Col. Ephraim Bowen 

in the Revolution 28 

Librarian authorized to examine manuscripts otlered for sale to 

the Society by Mr. James C. Manran, of Newport 30 



Mkaibehs : — 

Honorary 5 

Corresponding 0-7 

Resident 8-11 

Life 12 

Resident, elected 19, 23, 20, 44 

Corresponding, elected 19, 20, 44 

Honorary, elected 19, 23, 44 

Life, elected 20 



Nkcrology :— 

Williams, William G 85, 80 

Easton, Nicholas Redwood 80, 87 

Paine, Walter 87, 88 

Grosvenor, Col. Robert 88 

Spicer, George Thurston 89-91 

Oldfleld, John 91 

Pabodie, Benjamin Gladding 92-93 

Arnold, Hon. Samuel G 03-96 



IXDEX. loo 

rAOK. 

Officers of the Society ;^_+ 

Ode, seiui-ceiiteiiniiil, by Albert G. Greene 71, 72 

Procee(iiii,i>-s, vvitli various reports to be printed .LM-4r) 

Proposed amendments to the Constitution indefinitely postponed 24 

Purchase of Rider's Historical Tracts authorized 2S 

Papers read . . r)2, 53 

Patriotic Sonij (57 



Request for loan of plan of Camp Spraijne uranted 40 

Rksolutions : — 

Proffering co-operation and aid in oljserving the bi-centen- 

nial anniversary of the Settlement of liristol 25 

Thanks to Gen. Horatio Rogers 32 

" William B. ^A^eeden 42 

" Hon. William D. Brayton 41 

" Dr. E. M. Snow and S. S. Rider 44 

RK.roins : — 

Conunittee on the Angcll-Johnston Indian I'ottcry Develop- ■ 

ment 30-30 

Treasurer 49-51 

Librarian 52-75 

Procurator for Newport 70-77 

" Bristol 78-71) 

Committee on Grounds and Building 80 

" " Genealogical Researches 81-82 

" '• Publications 83 

" " State appropriation 84 



Thanks voted to Special Committee 

" •• " Stephen Whitney Pluenix. 

" " " Mrs. John Carter Brown ■. 



Williams, William G., resolution concerning !•> 

Washington Bridge, notice of '^< 

Wants of tlie Society 73-, .. 





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

! I 



014 075 489 4 




iiiiii' 



